Anime Survivor 5: Moon Kingdom Side Stories
by CHROMUS
Summary: The longest running anime survivor series continues with the longest running Side Stories. New author, new place, but same scenario! Read, write and enjoy!
1. Side Stories 1

Anime Survivor 5: Side Stories

Disclaimer: All the authors and readers that appear in this side story own themselves. Original characters that appear belong to their respective creators. Any nods and refs mentioned over the course of this document belong to their original sources.

Authors notes: It's a new location, a completely new cast and a new author! Whilst I'm no Star (I don't think anyone can replace her), I'll give it my best shot, but I need you guys to help as well. Send your scenes!

Big thanks early on to Joe Mello for his site and for his scenes, not to mention JusSonic, Digifan, Fetch, Anime Master Zero, Survivor Globie himself, Persona, Star Otaku (yay!), Blackstar, and whoever else I forgot. 

* * * *

Day 1

The New York base of As Inc was a pretty good thing if you needed to get into space.

"O.K guys, move along! No pushing!" Kelly, the female rep of AS Inc went in cheerleader style as the ship arranged for the Moon Kingdom was ready. It had the main ship where various cameos, authors and others were going. Some were coming on other forms of transport, with a few guests with them, but as Xelloss from Slayers says, 'That's a secret.'

"Kelly, why are you saying that? No pushing…look around you, they are still saying goodbye!" 

Of course, with every ditz, there is a drill sergant.

"Bite me." Kelly Silversmith complained to Jayson Gold, her co-host (whether she liked it or not) for this adventure. Their boss had decided to take a time-out and hang around in Hawaii, they could still reach him by phone, but they were pretty much in control this time.

Something Jayson really didn't like.

"Look here, the boss finally trusts us enough after 4 seasons to do this thing, and we don't want you screwing up. Did you get all the invitations correct? Are all the families and friends here?" Jayson said.

"Of course, what do you take me for?" Kelly said smiling.

"Give me five minutes and I'll write out a list." Jayson retorted.

"Hey, that was uncalled for Jase…" Kelly went into staring contest number 22456 with Jayson…fortunately, Globie did have the sense to have a voice of reason.

"Baka baka." Chromus sighed off the sidelines as he headed into the zone. He didn't come here on vacation to play peacemaker with Jayson and Kelly, but he had a hunch this was just the beginning. He recognised some people coming in, JusSonic was talking with Digifan and Fetch, he recognised Donald Marco with Jim Slica there…(and thanks to a court order, Tom wasn't here, Chromus still had side effects of having that fool on Pokevivor), , as Chromus knew a few others were making it by their own methods. Persona had sent him a memo that he was bringing the Yu-Gi-Oh cast with him, which was fine, but Chromus had to smile at the cast Globie had picked out this time.

"Now now Miaka-chan, that hunk of a man decided it was O.K that we could come here, so why waste it?" Nuriko chuckled to the rest of the Suzaku Seven (minus Chiriko) as Miaka was crying.

"I'll miss you all…" Miaka sobbed, as Tamahome put a hand on her shoulder.

"We know. And we'll miss you as well." Tamahome hugged his girlfriend as the rest of the Suzaku smiled.

"Aw, aren't you going to miss all that home loving?" Tasuki joked.

"Nuriko, smack him." Tamahome said.

One Mt. Rekoshu bandit blasting off as Mitsukake wished her luck, he would be working on the doctoring service this year with Ami Mizuno and Nurse Joy among others, whilst Nuriko was one of the bodyguards. Hotohori, the Emperor of Konan Empire gave Miaka a goodbye hug, and then Chichiri finally said his goodbyes (with a trademark 'no da' of course) as Miaka sighed, whilst Chiriko wasn't here, she was wishing there was one more person with her…

"Yui…"

The other ancient Chinese representatives were also enjoying their goodbyes, even though the environment was a bit beyond them…

"At least we know there is a moon in this life…" Ah-Tsing said.

"Well, it makes a change from the life you've led so far!" Siro added.

"Instead of being the most gifted teenage cook of the 19th century in China looking for rival chefs, you now have to beat your fellow rivals at surviving, something you can do sir!" Meiri finalised.

Ah-Tsing smiled and bowed, really hoping he knew what he was getting into.

Tristan Taylor felt a bit lonely as he wandering to the ship, as his friends were going with that nightclub guy (apparently, Yugi couldn't resist having a duel with the fellow) but they had talked with him before hand.

'_We believe in you!' (Teá)_

"As long as you don't go first, we won't be disappointed.' (Duke)

'Our thoughts will always guide you.' (Bakura)

'You believe in your heart, you will go far, I'm sure of that Tristan.' (Yugi)

'At least I know my sis will be safe for a few days…' (Joey)

Typical Wheeler, he had to get one last comment in. Ah well, he hoped it would last a bit more than a few days as he looked over some of the contestants.

"Well, I don't know how I can top Mina last time, but I'll try my best…" Michelle said to her friends and fellow scouts.

"Michelle, you know as well as I do that you'll be fine. You'll be the first person to represent a show that has won and win it again. I know it." Amara said to her friend/more than friend as the inner scouts followed suit.

"I'm still upset about not getting in, but as long as you beat meatball head over there, it will be O.K." Raye said.

"Raye, you meenie!" Serena complained.

"We wish you the best of luck Michelle." Ami, polite as always, said.

"Yes, and make sure you don't spend the money you win on a glitter wardrobe to start with like some other person we can mention…" Lita looked at Mina, who smiled.

"Hey, it's my money! Plus I'm a guest host! Can't get better than that!" the scout of love said.

On the side, young Rini Tsukino and Hotaru Tomoe came up to Michelle, as Hotaru timidly held a flower to Michelle.

"Mama Michelle, please do well and come back to us…" Hotaru said.

Michelle smiled and gave her adoptive 'daughter' a hug. Rini smiled.

"Come on Hotaru, race you to the ship!" Rini said.

As the two kids ran and skipped, another kid wasn't really looking at the competition…he wasn't really looking at anything to be honest.

"Kouji, are you actually going to go on that ship any time today?" Takuya complained.

Kouji looked back and sighed. "Why, you going to miss my company?"

"We didn't say that!" Zoe said as Kouji shrugged.

"Whatever." And with his kendo stick, he walked up as J.P and Tommy looked on.

"His goose is cooked isn't it?" J.P said.

"I dunno. It is Kouji we're talking about…" Takuya thought out loud.

Meanwhile, the Zoids crew weren't exactly enjoying Bit's smiley attitude as he was ready to go aboard.

"Trust me guys, I'm going to win this!" Bit said confident to fellow comrades Harry, Leena and Brad. "Just make sure Liger is O.K, right?"

"I think you need to worry about yourself a bit more, you think you can do this?" Brad said concerned.

"Ah, you guys worry too much. I've been in worse scrapes than this in my life!" Bit said as Leena fumed slightly.

"Fine then, but don't come crying back if you lose…" Leena said as she huffed back and was ready to take off…

"What's her problem?" Bit asked.

Harry shrugged. "Must be her time of the…" a boot imbedded on his skull for some reason before he could finish the sentence.

In Pokeworld, Casey Clemens, AS5's first minor representative to make the cut, was pretty ecstatic about having a chance to get on the show, and win the million dollars, heck, it could make her have a season ticket to the Electabuzz for life…

…but there was one problem.

"Um, Miss Silversmith?" Casey asked.

"Huh…oh it's you Case, what's up?" Kelly asked.

"I thought you said you were inviting my family. Well, Ash, Misty and Brock are here, and those two losers from Team Rocket, but where is my family?" Casey asked.

"What are you on about? They are over there!" Kelly pointed to a section where indeed, a lot of baseball fans with yellow and black stripes were hanging about.

"That's not my family!" Casey said.

"Of course it is! On the search engine for your invitations, I typed in 'family of idiotic baseball fans wearing black and white…"

That was as far as she got when a sneaker nearly imbedded in her face.

"Who ya calling idiotic?" the girl who threw that at her said.

"What you done now?" Jayson asked.

"Casey said that we haven't invited her family, but if that isn't her family, I dunno…"

"Ichino?"

That comment was from Chromus as he was talking to the girl. 

"Yep, that's me! What the heck am I doing here anyway? The invitation was to here, but why the heck…"

Chromus put a hand on Kelly's shoulder. "Was there more than one entry in the search engine…"

Kelly stuttered. "Er…maybe, I just clicked the first one.

Chromus sighed. "Wrong baseball teams. You picked the near similar Osaka Tigers fanboys which Ichino Yamagisa and her family from Battle Athletes support…NOT Casey's Electabuzz family."

"You numbskull!" Jayson said. "Now, we've got to sort these folks out as well and Casey is missing a family!"

"Well excuse me! Like I knew that there was more than one teams of baseball freaks!"

Chromus excused himself from the headache and made a mental check to at least keep Ichino here, as a bodyguard and also to prep her up for her role in his mole fic. He saw Eikichi Onizuka head off to the ship with his best friend Ryuji and his teacher paramour (or at least that's what he hopes) Azusa Fuyutsuki as he headed off…

…and of course…

"ONIZUKA! WHEN DID I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO TAKE 2 MONTHS OFF!"

The tub of lard, also known as Hiroshi Uchiyamada, vice-principal of Holy Forest Academy…and Onizuka's biggest thorn in his side.

"Here comes the butt-sniffer right about now…" Eikichi yawned.

"LISTEN HERE, NOT ONLY DO YOU OWE REPAIRS ON MY BEAUTIFUL CRESTA, BUT YOU'RE WAYS OF TEACHING HAVE BEEN COMING UNDER REVIEW! I SUGGEST YOU TURN AROUND NOW AND…"

"He going." Ryuji said.

"Good luck!" Fuyotsuki added.

The tub of lard was quickly having a heart attack.

Roger Smith, the crime-fighting millionaire of Big O, it was weird seeing the man from 2099 circa Paradigm City entering a competition like this, but hey, it was his life.

It wasn't helped by R. Dorothy Wayneright. Sure, she was indistinguishable from humans, and yes, in his time, she may hold the secret to humankind's amnesia, but in this environment of time and space, it was weird.

At least she could have wished him luck…

Meanwhile, a different type of conversation was happening between a man and his fiancé…or should I say fiancés?

"I still don't see why we have to be here…" Ranma complained.

"Oh, come on now son, it doesn't hurt to take a break now and then, after all it's free…" Soun Tendo said.

"A good martial artist must know when to fight and when to rest, that's what I always say!" Genma Saotome added.

"In other words, you're coming here for the free food…" Nabiki observed.

"Should have known." Ranma said.

"I'd thought you'd be happy to come here, after all, a stomach like yours could use all the free food you could get…" Akane said.

"At least it will be better than anything you could make up you uncute tomboy!" Ranma countered.

Everyone (bar Kasumi who just smiled) could get a headache from this, so Ukyo herself decided to end the argument.

"Hey, if I win Ranchan, my business is pretty much safe and secure, so you can have free okonomiyaki whenever you want." Ukyo smiled.

A pair of hands clasped hers…but it wasn't her 10 year childhood friends.

"That includes her family right?" Genma said.

A splash of water later and a panda with a sign saying 'Right? Right' came into view.

"There are no flies on that panda…" Akane moaned.

"Oh well, he does have a point. If I do win, will he prefer to switch the engangement to me now then Akane-honey?" Ukyo smiled and winked before heading to the rocket, leaving the youngest Tendo to partly stew in rage, and partly panic over her words.

Just as Ryoga walked in with a stick holding his tired body.

"Tell me…is this…Nasa site, AS Inc HQ in New York?" Ryoga gasped.

Akane smiled at her friends as Ranma murmured something about 'stupid pig' (which of course got them into a fight…but it was restrained thanks to Gohan).

And speaking of Gohan…

"You go little bro!" Gohan hugged Goten as he wished him luck.

"Yes, if Gohan can come so close, then you should easily win it." Videl by his side smiled, as Gohan blushed.

"Win the money for mommy sweetie!" Chi-chi commented as Bulma, Vegeta, Krillin and 18 looked on. Goku may have been busy training Oob, but he was still there in spirit. 

"Hey, is your dad coming?" Chi-chi asked Videl.

"I don't know. I think he is, I think he mailed about 7 complaints that he wasn't in the guest list. I guess if at first you don't succeed…" Videl started.

"…bribe, bribe again." 18 ended.

"That's the one." Videl finished.

A wail caught the attention of most of the cast.

"KIYONE, DON'T GO…." Mihoshi sobbed as Kiyone was (literally) dragging her across the ground as Tenchi and the others facefaulted.

"It's not like it going to be forever Kiyone, so just let her be!" Tenchi offered as they finally managed to get the klutzy Galaxy police operative off. Ryoko immediately glomped onto the Masaki boy.

"Well Tenchi, we are going to be all alone in a hotel on the moon, isn't it romantic?" Ryoko purred, until of course…

"Lay your hands off Lord Tenchi!" Ayeka screamed.

"Oh great, make sure they don't destroy the landing site…" Washu on her super-computer quietly commented as Ryoko seemed ready to do battle…and then voice of reason spoke up.

"No dinner then!" Sasami chirped with Ryo-Ohki echoing her statements.

Ryoko muttered to Ryo-Ohki about being a traitor, but relented. From the future, Seiya Uribatake had managed to use Inez as a medium to get to this time. Fortunately he wasn't alone, as Akito Tenkawa, one of the many cooks for the hotel had travelled with him.

"Oh, I can wait! Seiya is going primal baby! Watch out girls, daddy is in town!"

"Yeah, right." Akito decided not to mention he had a wife and child who could be witnessing this, and considering this guy had hit on 13 year old Yukina on the Nadesico (Howmei was a good gossip), he was worried for the likes of the girls joining him.

Then again, one of them would probably beat him up before the game ended.

"General Une, we wish you all the best of luck in this game. Do the Preventers proud." Lt. Lucretia Noin and Sally Po both pretty much said the same thing to the Gundam Wing representative.

"Thank you. I'm sure I can do well, the strategies of this game is as simple as fighting off a well rounded colony attack." Une said.

"Are Duo and the others going to be coming?" Noin asked.

"Well, Wufei, Duo and Quatre are coming from what I hear after they've finished off their respective work and research. I haven't heard from Trowa or Heero in months…and as for Vice Minister Darlian…" Sally said.

"It's O.K. I'm sure they'll be here." Une smiled as she turned to her other guest, a girl in a wheelchair, Miss Mariemaia. 

"Now, don't give in to any evil demons like Jackie did last time!" Uncle said to Jade, the only non-anime representative of the show.

"Now, now, I'm sure they're won't be anyone evil there…besides, I'll kick butt if that happens!" Jade said.

"As I said, it wasn't my…" Jackie was interrupted by a quick chop to the head.

"Never disagree, argue or in anyway shape or form counter what Uncle has to say!" 

Finally…

"If I win, do I get a watermelon?" Mutsumi said, clueless as usual.

"If you win, you can get all the watermelons you want." Naru said, trying hard not to sweatdrop at her friend and former ronin's antics.

"Don't worry Mutsumi, you'll do us all proud." Keitaro smiled.

"At least better than this idiot." Naru quipped, as Keitaro sighed.

"Mustumi-sempai, give us the victory that you deserve in your life." Motoko said with her usual degree of seriousness as she struggled to get Su off her back.

"The turtle-girl going to win!" Su cheered.

"At the moon resort!" Sarah added.

Shinobu, the peacemaker, tried to calm them down but it was hard, especially as Kitsune was trying to look into the ship for any booze supply. She stretched her arms…accidently pushing Motoko who tripped into Naru…

…whose chest hit Keitaro directly in the face.

One kendo blast and Naru punch later, and the setting was complete.

They were flying to the moon.

* * * *

After various eons of space travel, which could have taken several days but in reality was only 5 minutes, the two separate ships had done their duty.

One of them had 8 guys and girls trapped in cybersleep, awakened to prepare for the Anime Survivor 5: Moon Kingdom. Jayson was ready to disembark towards the journey that 16 of these would remember for the rest of their lives…

The other…

"Pretty interesting ride!" Leena (Zoids) said.

"You're telling me…" Harry added.

On the second floor of the hotel, almost everyone had arrived there in splendour. And despite this, behind the desk ahead of time of course was V_volitaire, or just Val, ready to welcome everyone in.

"Hello, and welcome all to the Moon Kingdom. This is where you will be for the next 30 days and nights for the experience that is Anime Survivor. Cheer on your favourites of course as you relax from your room, whether anime or cameo. Take part in our wonderful features in this horizontal hotel made by the generators of gravity, electricity and of course oxygen, but you can still take part in activities such as exercising, merchandising and of course, off-licence betting right on this very floor. That not take your fancy? There is a hot spring on floor 3, and the infamous nightclub on the top floor…"

Some of the older guests cheered at that as Val moaned that she hadn't been paid to be a tour guide.

"…so in an orderly queue, please come to the desk and get your keys please…"

Now, if 'orderly' you mean 'total chaos' then that is what the poor receptionist got. Anime characters and authors pretty much scrapped to get to the floor, not helped by 'running commentary' by Kelly and Mina.

"And Ranma Saotome takes the lead…but oh! What a wicked shot to the head by Tamahome…but not even Tamahome can stop the legend that is Uncle! Well, this is a fierce battle for the lead, so Mina, can you take over?" Kelly said, as Jayson tried hard not to groan at the spectacle.

"Well, it's seems to be that most of the hot-headed characters are vying for the early sample of free food…case in point, watch Serena trying to crawl through everyone to get there, and Ash not exactly shy about trying to use one of his pokemon to get through. Of course, this doesn't represent everyone here of course…!"

Indeed, some of the authors were simply biding their time. JusSonic, Digifan and Fetch were simply talking waiting for things to go down. (Sonic saying about why things will be for the better that Washu wasn't in it, Digifan trying hard to convert her friends into Manchester United football fans and Fetch just being patient). They all in general were just happy to be there.

On the other hand…

"And now, let's see what's going on down on floor 1, where all the actions as various ships and such from the animes, and even authors are coming in! We are now cutting to our roving reporters…OOOWWW! What was that for?" Kelly complained.

"Stop this nonsense! We don't have a TV screen or a reporter down at floor 1! What the heck are you doing anyway, this isn't a high school basketball game!" Chromus moaned.

"Oh sure, rain on my parade why don't ya?" Kelly complained.

* * * *

  
Anime Master ZERO stepped out of his private Gummi Ship and looked around. The _Anime Survivor 5_ hotel 

seemed luxurious enough. A lot of familiar faces were seen. There was Zach Kaiser, for one. And there was also the group from _Digimon Frontier_, whom AMZ, himself, had brought along as guests once before. 

"Excuse me, Sir? The guests wish to disembark," said a voice, which happened to belong to AMZ's right-hand lackey, Anime Minion ZERO.

"Let them, then," said Anime Master ZERO. He turned and watched as his guests disembark the Gummi Ship.

The first was a fourteen-year-old boy with spiky brown hair and sapphire-blue eyes. He was wearing an odd red suit with a large zipper on the front along with a black and white short-sleeved hooded jacket, a blue leather belt, and a pair of white fingerless gloves. On his feet, he wore a pair of large yellow shoes. Around his neck was a silver chain with some sort of silver crown attached to it and he also wore another silver chain at his side.

"Hey Sora! How're you holding up?" AMZ asked.

"Just great," said Sora. Behind Sora was a girl his age with brown hair wearing a white top and brown shorts. Behind her was a fifteen-year-old boy with long greyish-white hair. He was dressed in a tight yellow and dark blue tank top, dark-colored shoes, short black gloves, and blue pants. The former: Kairi. The latter: Riku.

"Hey boss! Why'd we have to take the Gummi Ship, anyway?" asked Anime Minion ZERO as he followed with everyone's luggage after parking the Gummi Ship.

"Because it's the only vehicle we have that's best suited for interdimensional travel," replied Anime Master ZERO, "Besides, if it worked for Sora, it should work for us. And it did." The entered the hotel into the lobby and AMZ walked up to the Front Desk.

"Welcome back, AMZ," said v_voltaire.

"Are the rooms ready for me and my guests?" asked Anime Master ZERO.

"Ready, as always," said v as she handed out the keys, " And who are those other three?"

"I'd like you to meet Sora, Kairi, and Riku," introduced AMZ, "The _Kingdom Hearts_ group."

"Right, right, you guys will have to separate then, AMZ, you're on floor 9, you're cameoing, whilst your guests will have to take floor 5 for the moment." Val handed the guys and one girl a key each, as Mina and Kelly watched on.

"Entrance?" Mina asked.

"About a 6. Interesting characters, but why the heck did he bring something out of an old Disney cartoon as his transport?" Kelly asked.

"Huh?" Mina asked, as Kelly blushed and pretended to look on the floor, obviously getting the Kingdom Hearts gummi ship mixed up with the old one from the show Gummi Bears…not that she ever watched it or anything…

* * * *

"Dark Magician, take out his Catapult Turtle! Dark magic attack!" 

The time, 2:38 PM. 

The place, the isle of a passenger shuttle en route for the Anime Survivor space station hotel. 

The event, a duel between the ancient Pharaoh, Yami Yugi and the author, Persona. Both were using Kaiba Corp's patented duel disk system, battle city version, and thus attracted quite a crowd. Yugi's last move just rearranged the life point total to 2700 for Yugi, and 1200 for Persona. 

Persona was beginning to sweat, sensing an impending loss. "This isn't good." He said to no one in particular. "With only two Prevent Rats and a Giant Soldier of Stone to defend me, and Yugi's Dark Magician on the field, unless a miracle occurs it's only a matter of time until I'm defeated." 

"Beginning to regret your challenge Persona?" Asked Yugi. 

The author smirked. "Not in the least. Win or lose, I enjoy a good duel. Plus I couldn't resist the urge to face you in battle. Besides, I'm not through yet. Perhaps that miracle I mentioned is about to occur?" 

Yugi smiled back in reply. "True. The duel is never over until the last card is played. Draw your next card and see what your deck will provide." 

Persona nodded and did just that. "Heart of the cards time," he said to himself as he drew. "Give me something good." 

Yugi looked on and saw a visible change in Persona's demeanor. The author had gone from nervous and desperate to flowing with confidence within a second of looking at the card he drew. "From the look on your face I assume that your deck provided you with a card you were hoping for?" 

"You could say that. It's time to end this duel!" Persona announced, grinning like a madman. 

"I summon Obelisk the Tormentor!" 

* * * *

Vash the Stampede was waiting on the first floor of the hotel for Persona's shuttle to arrive. Vash had been sent to the hotel early by Persona to make sure there was enough room for the nightclub this time. A repeat of last season's ground shaking fiasco was not needed, nor wanted. 

"VASH-SAN!" 

Vash froze in his tracks, he knew that cheery voice all too well. "It can't be." 

But sure enough it was. Once Vash turned around he saw the cheery face that went with that cheery voice, Milly Thompson. After spotting her, Vash looked to her right and wasn't disappointed. With her, as always, was her friend and partner Meryl Strife. 

"The insurance girls!" Vash said, still rather surprised to see them here. "This is a surprise! Are you here to watch the competition?" 

"Actually," Meryl began, "we're here on business. Have you seen Persona anywhere?" 

Whatever Vash was expecting her to say, that wasn't it. "What do you need to see him for?" 

"Milly and I have been sent to try to keep damages involving Persona to a minimum. After all the incidents involving him and damage to the hotel over the past seasons, the agency wants him under constant supervision." 

"Gee, doesn't THAT sound familiar." Vash said after Meryl had finished. "Anyways, to answer your question, Persona isn't here yet. He's due to arrive on the next transport, it should be docking in the next few minutes." 

Milly, who had moved to the window, decided to enter the conversation at that point. "Oh, then that ship trailing smoke must be the one he's on then." 

"Trailing smoke!?" The other two shouted at the same time. "I'm heading for the landing pad," Vash said while already on the move "you two coming?" 

"What do you think?" Meryl said following close behind. 

The ship entered the docking bay and skidded to a halt, showering sparks along the way. The trio of Vash, Meryl, and Milly arrived just as the door opened and a slew of frantic and coughing passengers filed out. Persona and the cast of Yu-Gi-Oh seemed to be in an argument. 

"We made it!" Tea gasped. "I thought we were going to end up dead in space for a while there." 

"We almost were, no thanks to a certain someone." Kaiba spat bitterly. 

"Yeah, thanks a lot Persona." Joey said. "You just HAD to play Obelisk didn't you?"

"Like I was supposed to know playing an Egyptian God card would frag the ship's computer." Persona said in defense of himself. "By the way Yugi, I think our duel should be considered a draw on account of explosion." 

Yugi nodded. "Agreed, but don't expect a rematch on the trip home if you intend to keep Obelisk in your deck." 

"Point taken." Persona said before noticing Vash and company. "Hey Vash! You never said you were bringing friends. How's it going?" 

Vash was about to say something before getting elbowed out of the way. "Mister Persona, my name is Meryl Strife." 

"And I'm Milly Thompson." Milly cut in. 

"We've been sent on behalf of the Bernadelli Insurance Agency to follow you and keep damages involving you to a minimum." 

Persona's jaw almost hit the ground. "You've got to be kidding!" 

"Not at all." Said Milly. "You have a habit of wreaking mass destruction wherever you go. Frankly I'm surprised they even let you back this time." 

Persona's expression of shock soon changed to one of mock hurt. "My dear lady, your words wound me. First of all, they have to let me back. I'm mister nightclub! I bring the party to Anime Survivor. Literally! Secondly, when I go somewhere, I do not leave mass destruction in my wake and the very accusation insults me. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to check in before the ship I damaged explodes." 

That having been said, Persona left just as the captain of the transport rushed out of the ship. "I suggest you get this ship out of here and now! The engine's going to blow!" 

Five seconds and several mad rushes later, the PA system came to life. "Attention Mobile Suit units one and two, please report to the docking bay now for immediate hazard removal. I repeat..." 

The trio watched as two teams of mobile suits escorted the damaged ship to a safe distance from the hotel before it exploded. Meryl let out a long, drawn out sigh. "This is going to be a long assignment." 

* * * *

Persona made his way to the second floor reception area and headed for Val's desk. He saw her at her post, and wasn't surprised at the crowd. These events seemed to get bigger each season. 

Waiting his turn in line, Persona finally made it up to the front. "Hello Val, how's it going?" 

Val smiled, though it was a tired smile. "Busy, as always. I assume you'd like to check in?" 

"The thought had crossed my mind." Persona said, smiling back. "By the way, would you happen to know where they want me to put the nightclub this year? The lower levels of the hotel seem a little crowded with transports and mechs this time." 

Val nodded and handed him his key. "Here you go, your room is on the tenth floor, the number is on your key. And to answer your question, the thirteenth floor has been set aside for the nightclub this time around. Feel free to open it at your leisure." 

"Ah, lucky number thirteen. I know of at least two people who are going to get a kick out of that!" Persona looked like he was about to say something else whan a distant explosion caused the hotel to shudder for a second. 

"What was that?" Asked a suddenly on edge Val. "Probably just the station defenses taking out a rouge asteroid." Persona said quickly. "I'll bet it's nothing to worry about. You have a good day now." He said as he started to head for the elevators. 

While waiting for an elevator and glancing at his room key, which read 1007, the silver haired author heard some random chatter going around the lobby. 

"What was that?" 

"I'm not sure." 

"Did you hear?" 

"Hear what?" 

"They say a ship just exploded! That what caused the hotel to shudder!" 

"Seriously!?" 

Persona smiled as he entered the elevator and pressed the button for the tenth floor. 

"Ah, it's good to be back."

Kelly chuckled watching the hijinx. "Probably an 8…always start off a survivor with a bang…"

Mina groaned. "And I thought I did bad jokes…"

* * * *

****

DAY 2

Not everyone had arrived yet, but that was to be expected. Madness always came in small rapid doses, rather than a train wreck.

Each room had various basic needs plus any special requests that were needed also were allowed (within reason of course). At the moment, however, the main thing was the fact that they could watch what was going on in AS5 without much of a hitch.

And a lot of the girls were currently enjoying the hot spring, and talking about the events just from the opening ceremonies. And they were pissed.

"I can't believe those idiots actually thought they'd be enjoying a free peep show, those perverts! They are just as…no, they are worse than Keitaro!" Naru complained.

"Honestly, do they expect themselves to be taken seriously when they act like the biggest…no, second biggest perverts I'd ever seen…" Akane added to the conversation.

"Well, I always knew Bit was a moron, but I can see company is quite catching…" Leena relaxed, but still annoyed. She didn't take light Bit's comment about her being hot-headed, even if it was true.

"I know, and they are hanging round my son, my poor baby is going to become delusional and confused around people like that!" Chi-Chi sat down, just washing Teá's back."

"I don't know if Tristan is really like that, but his mind is so small I wouldn't be surprised if they at least made him a tad perverted…maybe I'll have a word with Joey later…"

"Hon, when you hang around those guys sooner or later, you'll realise what idiots they can be. I've had tons of perverts come onto me both in duels and when I worked in a casino, believe me, with girls on their side as vicious as them, they'll get what's coming to them." Mai Valentine said with a sly smile, enjoying the rich life of the hot spring.

Even author cameos were getting in on the act.

"Well, I've never met anyone really that perverted, but it's still a worry…" Littlekitty sat content just talking, rather than getting in the water.

"Trust me, when you're like us, you don't know what you're getting into…" White Moon Goddess started.

"I'd never thought I'd say this, but Kouji is acting the most normal…well, that Tsing fellow and your son Chi-Chi maybe but…" 

Zoe never got to finish the sentence…

* * * *

Outside the hot spring, Nuriko was wondering which end he should bathe in. Yes, he was a guy but most people accepted him as a girl…although he had a feeling that none of the girls probably would appreciate being looked on, even from a cross-dresser.

He sighed, as he headed to the men's end…

…just as a few of the guys came his way.

"Guys, this is not a good idea!" Keitaro Urashima complained.

"It's O.K, Tracey may not be hear, but I've been getting a few ideas how to draw the human body, so don't worry!" Brock.

"Agahst you foul-minded cretins, thou shall not feast upon a glory of beauty whilst Tatewaki Kuno is here…until I arise first and foremost to check…" Kuno felt a foot to his skull.

"And why would even want to peep into that uncute tomboy?" Ranma added as Keitaro sighed.

"I'm going…" Keitaro turned as Ranma and Kuno began to fight, but then Keitaro didn't see the soap that Kuno had dropped…

The next things that happened are what local anime dictionaries have labelled 'Kei-kun-esque.'

Keitaro slipped on the soap and fell back, missing Brock and smashing Kuno on the head as he headed to the hot spring. Fortunately salvation was there in the form of Nuriko.

However, Nuriko again forgot how strong he was and instead of grabbing his shirt to stop his descent to death, he ripped the shirt as Keitaro wailed to his death…

The next sounds were a few screams, the first of (many) Keitaro shaped holes which the Old Dojo crew would have to fix, and a few angry females.

"Still want to go in Kuno?" Ranma quipped.

"Alas, I've changed my mind." The upperclassman turned. 

In the spring…

"These guys are all idiots!" Naru managed to claim first blood on virtue that she was used to it. However, the girls seemed to be united in one thing.

Any guy that looks at them wrong is pretty much soaking in his own blood…

"Hey girls?" Lucretia came in.

"What?" they all said in unison.

"The guys lost the immunity challenge! It was so funny seeing their faces after that tyke creamed them in the end…" Lucretia said.

And lo did the girls give an evil grin.

* * * *

__

I hope this works better than the last time. The last thing I need is to be surrounded by more hamsters.

Joe Mello cautiously hit the Enter key on his laptop. Almost instantly one of Washu's star portals (or Stargates, as he punfully calls them) appeared in front of him. He had made some modifications between his trip to the Jersey Shore and the start of the new fall semester at Folken Crest High School, so it was definitely better than what Washu was subjecting anyone to. (He couldn't imagine anyone going through there for £5,000) However, it was still rather risky and, as his trip to Hamtaro land had proven, still unreliable. He finally got the gumption to take his laptop and step through the Stargate, leaving his own Authorverse behind.

In an instant he stepped into a giant space docking bay. It was a cross between a typical hotel garage and Blue Heaven from _Outlaw Star_. It also looked quite busy, so Joe decided not to dawdle and found the first elevator to take him to the lobby, and boy, was he surprised to see who was checking-in with Val. Joe thought this would be the perfect time to don his shades and walked across the lobby with a air around him both pompous and slightly psychotic. He called out about 3/4 of the way there, "Well, well, well! It's White Moon Goddess!"

The young lady turned around and was surprised at the person who called her. _Uh-oh_, she thought, _This doesn't exactly good._

Joe shook Goddess's hand firmly and constantly. "I remember you from AS4," he said with a cold cockiness. 

"You're Serenity's sister, right?"

"Uh-huh. That's me."

"I thought so. Oh, and don't worry about my feelings towards you. As much as I would love to kick your ass to Pluto for what you did to me and your sister, I've gotten over it and and decided it wouldn't be in our best interests to carry out my threat."

"That's good to hear." Goddess was kind of okay with that. "Uh, are you done shaking my hand?"

"Oh, sorry." Joe broke grip as Val handed to a relaxed Goddess her room key. "Say, did Serenity come with you?"

"No. I don't normally travel with her."

"Oh, well, do you know if she's in yet?" Goddess shook her head. "Well, while I get checked in, could you try and find Serenity and tell her that I'm in?"

Goddess responded with a look that said, "Yeah, right. In your dreams, perv," and left to go to her room.

* * * *

"He cheated, that's how!" Kelly complained.

"To host first?" said Serena.

"Yes, I mean how could he have drawn scissors when I had paper, that's not fair!" Kelly said. "And I guess Mr. Bigshot is thinking he owns the place!"

"I know, it's not like we haven't got our uses either!" Serena spazed out as Raye in the distance was scared that two ditzes had got together.

"Yes, you mean like you got that girl from her family and friends?" Jackie said.

"Shut up!" That had been a problem. Chromus had said he'd look into getting her back, but because he was a Battle Athletes fan, he wasn't really hurrying. It had been 2 days for crying out loud!

"Um…isn't it getting late?" Shinobu asked, coming back from restaurant duty late night and heading for bed.

"I'm a grown-up kid! Don't waste my time!" Kelly complained, as Shinobu looked ready to cry.

Almost half the males in the area locked eyes on Kelly, who panicked.

"Um…er…" Serena for once thought ahead and instinctivelly headed out of there.

"RULE 1: NEVER HURT SHINOBU. RULE 2…NEVER HURT SHINOBU!"

"I'm a host, I've got rights…"

She never got a chance for any rights…well, maybe the right to remain silent…

* * * *  


There was a surge of light.

Blackstar and his dragon Omega were flying through a portal, one that led to the AS5 hotel. This year, it was on the moon, which the dark god looked forward to. He a good time last year...If he didn't count the part with the thief. 

"Blackstar..." Omega growled in a low voice, "We are nearing the end of the portal. Brace yourself."

The author nodded, and held a firm grip onto Omega's wings. He knew he could fly, but he couldn't fly through portals without his friend beside him. Besides, he didn't have enough strength to fly all by himself.

The white light at the end of the tunnel grew brighter and brighter...

The portal opened with a blast, and out came the two, flying right into the floor. Luckily, no one was in the area at the time. Blackstar got up and stretched, it had been a long ride after all.

Blackstar smiled, as he knew they were there. He turned around to face the dragon when he felt it. 

The author stumbled a bit, and fell onto one knee, and he was glowing slightly. Omega rushed to his aid.

"Master Blackstar! Are you alright?" The dragon asked, as he got up. 

Blackstar also got up, looking a bit pale. "Yeah...I am..." 

"What happened?"

"I...I don't know." The god closed his eyes and concentrated. A few moments later, he had a look of surprise on his face. 

"Oh yes, now I remember. Someone mentioned to me that because of last year, they were going to power us down. I'm surprised that I forgot."

The dragon frowned. "Does this mean what I think it means?"

Blackstar shook his head. "No, I still have all of my magic, but I don't have as much energy that I would have liked."

Omega sighed. "Well, now what? Should I stay here, or should I...?" Omega trailed off. Blackstar knew the second option, and he knew the dragon didn't like it, but he knew what had to be done.

"Sorry, Omega."

"That's alright...You can make it up to me later."

The god smirked. He held up a midnight blue crystal, and the dragon turned into a ball of light as it entered it. The crystal glowed and an image of Omega the Bahamut appeared, signifying he had entered the crystal. 

Blackstar then walked off, hoping to get some peace.

Blackstar quietly exited his room, and walked up to the roof. Many people had arrived by now, and all of them bustling to get to their rooms and get comfortable with their surroundings. He didn't like the noise, so he headed towards the quietest place in the hotel.

As he walked up to the roof, he put his hands behind his back, only feeling his sword sheathed in its scabbard. He remembered back to last year, after the whole thief incident. He had helped Little Serenity revive Globie and Zach Kaiser, and the half-goddess and god almost lost their lives doing it. He had woken up in a few days though, with a shocking surprise. He had grown dragon wings while in his coma, and he had to put up with it until 2 months ago. He had finally learned how to control his dragon wings, and how to make them disappear. He would only use them if he needed to, which didn't come very often. As he was reminiscing, he failed to notice that he had already made it. Shaking off his stupidity, he opened the hatch.

The moment he stepped foot on the roof, he looked at the earth. It was a truly magnificent sight, as one would say.

Blackstar sighed as he sat down on the roof, looking at the earth. "It looks so peaceful and calm from here, and so do the stars..." The author sighed again, looking at the area.

"Looking at all of this...It reminds me of the Eternal Dimension, doesn't it, Omega?"

'_Yes, it does. The calmness of space reminds me of our home...' _Omega said back through their telepathic link. Even though he was in his crystal, he could still talk to the god anytime he wanted.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light right next to him, and Blackstar only knew this so well.

"A portal...? Up here?"

The light glowed brighter, blinding him from seeing what was coming. He readied himself to fight in case it was something bad.

After the light vanished, he saw 4 figures on the floor, 3 boys and girl.

The first boy had blond-brown hair, and was wearing blue clothes with some brown armor, gloves, and boots. He also had a sword, which was sheathed at the moment. He looked about 17 years old, as Blackstar noted. 

The second boy also looked about 17. He had red hair that stuck up backwards, and he had a large sword in his hands. He was wearing a brown shirt with some armor, and like the other boy, was wearing gloves and boots.

The third boy only looked about 15, as he was much smaller than the others. He had blonde hair, and was wearing a purple shirt with a green travel cloak. He was holding a small blade in his hands, but it looked large enough to hurt somebody. 

The fourth one, the only girl in the group, also looked about 17. She had turquoise colored hair, which was done up in a ponytail and held pack with a weird looking bow. She had a light blue dress on, and a light blue traveling cloak. She was holding staff in her hands, which was adorned with a small blue crystal.

The group seemed to be stirring, as Blackstar backed up.

"Ugh...What hit me?" The blond-brown haired boy said.

"I feel like I was just punched by a Grand Golem..." The red head said.

"Where are we anyway?" The turquoise haired one added. 

"Can someone please get off of my leg?!" The young boy shouted.

As Blackstar got a good look at them, he mentally kicked himself. This was the main cast of _Golden Sun_! He quickly moved to speak with them.

"Well, well...Hello..." The 4 quickly jumped and turned around.

"Who are you?" They asked at the same time.

Blackstar gave off a little chuckle. "Hmm...Well, I know I should ask you the same thing, if I didn't already know your names..."

The four looked at each other in confusion. "How do you know us?" The red haired one asked.

The turquoise haired person spoke up. "Well..." She turned to the blond haired boy. "Could you try to Mind Read him?" He nodded, and walked up to him. Rings of energy surrounded him as he closed his eyes, apparently reading his mind. Blackstar smirked, knowing what this was, but not at all worried.

The boy stopped, and his face looked shocked. "Well?" The red haired one said.

He turned back to the others. "I...I can't read his mind!" He saw the other's reactions before continuing. "His mental defenses are too strong to break through. It looked nearly impossible..." He then turned back to Blackstar. "Who are you...?"

"I am called Blackstar...There is no need to introduce yourself or your comrades, Ivan."

Once again, Ivan looked shocked. So did the others. "H...How did you...?"

Blackstar raised his hand. "I will explain that later. Even though I know your names, go ahead and introduce yourselves anyway."

After a moment of silence, the blond-brown haired one stepped forward. "My name is Isaac. I guess you can call me the leader of everyone here..." 

The red haired one steeped up next. "I'm Garet. I'm the one who rescues damsels in distress and..." He was quickly silenced by a thwack from Ivan's sword. "Hey! That hurt!"

Ivan stepped forward. "You already know, I'm Ivan..."

The girl came up. She smiled sweetly as she talked. "I'm Mia. It's nice to meet you." 

The author smirked. "Okay, now that we are all introduced, I think you all want to know where we are. Well...I guess you can figure it out by your self..." He pointed towards the Earth, and adepts followed his finger, and gasped when they saw it. 

"Is that the Earth?!" Ivan yelped in surprise. 

"We're on the moon?" Isaac questioned.

"How can that be? It doesn't even look like it from here! I can't tell where Angara or Hesparia is!" Garet said.

"Let me explain...You are not in your own dimension." He looked at everyone's surprised faces before continuing. 

"This is a much different dimension, one with technology and other stuff."

"Techno-what?" Garet questioned with confusion.

"Ah, that's right. There are no advanced machines in your era...Fine, come with me."

Blackstar headed towards the exit, and the 4 adepts quickly followed him.

Once they reached Blackstar's room, they quickly looked around and were amazed with what they saw.

Isaac went over to the television and started to examine it. 

Garet saw the alarm clock. He picked it up and started to look at it, wondering what it did. 

Ivan looked at the laptop Blackstar had set up. He pushed a few buttons and yelped with surprise and stared in wonder when it turned on.

Mia grabbed the remote control for the TV, and pushed the power button. Both she and Isaac jumped in surprise when it turned on.

"Blackstar...Where are we?" She questioned, with an amazed look on her face

.

He chuckled. "All will be revealed in due time. However..." He looked at the clock, noting that is was midnight. "We should get some sleep. It's past midnight." The group nodded, and then realized something. They had no place to sleep.

Blackstar took notice of this. "Do not worry. I have this covered." He raised his hand, and to the wonder of the adepts, it started to glow. As if by magic, 4 different colored beds materialized inside the room, falling right next to each other. The 4 looked at Blackstar.

"You're an adept?" Isaac questioned, amazed at all of this person's powers.

Blackstar chuckled again. "An adept? No, I am not. However, I do have powers...I shall reveal them in time, however."

The adepts nodded, and Garet yawned. "Man, I'm tired." He said as he walked to one of the beds. 

The others realized how tired they were, and started to walk towards the beds.

"Night," They all said in unison. After turning off the lights, Blackstar smiled. "Ah...How the youth is both energetic and tired at the same time."

'_Are you sure it is wise to trust them?'_

"Yes, it is. I have this feeling...But it doesn't matter right now. Can you do me a favor?"

__

'You want me to guard the door, right? I'll do it...' The image of Omega faded from Blackstar's crystal, and a pentagram appeared on the door, with two dragon wings coming out on the side.

Blackstar smiled as he headed towards his own bed, falling asleep quickly.

Meanwhile, 3 of the adepts were up, talking. Garet was asleep and snoring loudly.

"Well, what do you think?" Ivan said as he tried to cover his ears. No one liked Garet's snoring, especially the others.

"I think he's very nice, to offer us hospitality after we appeared here...," Mia said, looking at Blackstar.

"Well, still, we have to be careful. We don't know much about this guy, he may have even brought us here!" Isaac said, and waited a few moments before continuing, "I'm not saying not to trust him, I'm telling you all that we should keep our guard up." The other 2 nodded. Eventually, Garet's snoring started to take its toll on them.

"I'm going to scream if I have to hear this much longer!" Mia said pretty loudly, covering her ears some more.

"I think we should go to sleep, if we want to escape this torture!" Isaac said, trying to block out the noise.

"I concur!" Ivan said, and the three tried to fall asleep, with their hands over their ears to block out the noise.

* * * *

****

DAY 3

The betting booth wasn't up and about yet, but people were talking about who they wanted to win and who was going to go first.

"If Kouji can survive today, I'll be very surprised!" Takuya said.

"I don't think Onizuka is going things the right way…I sure hope he's O.K…" Azusa Fuyutsuki, Onizuka's fellow teacher said.

"Well, Seiya isn't exactly handling things like I thought he would…and after he was making progress as well…" Akito said.

But before anyone else could add anything, a disturbance in the first floor came into hand.

"What the heck was that?" A worried Sally Po came up to them.

"Don't we have security for this kind of thing?" Dorothy said.

As if on cue, the security, consisting of Tamahome, Ryoga (they made sure they kept him on tracks), Jackie, Motoko, Gohan and Ryoko (they convinced her to protect anything that could attack Tenchi) were to the first floor, Ryoko arriving there first…

"Damn, these things were hard to get there!"

…as Ryoko screamed to no-one in particular. Huh…wait a sec? 

Ah, from the Aestavalis, which was carrying along with it, several Big O Robots, a Mecha Tamago, several Zoids, a couple of Aestis (which were actually helping with the towing), one Aesti on it's own…and probably a partridge in a pear tree somewhere as well.

"Tenkawa, why did you run off and let me do all the work?" Ryoku Subaru complained to the cook/pilot just heading there.

"Well, someone had to see off Seiya…" Akito said.

"Ah, nothing like a bit of a workout…" as one of the Aesti pilots came out…but it wasn't anyone from Nadesico, as Duo Maxwell and Quatre Barbara Winner came out.

"Hey…wait…how the heck…" Akito stammered.

Ryoko shrugged. "They said they were pilots from a different time, so Nergal gave them the implants to get them to use them. Their own suits have been burned up and they were lost in their time…you wouldn't believe where I've had to travel to get everything here…" Ryoko complained.

"Anyway, I hope Lady Une is still in the game…" Quatre said politely.

"She will tonight, the guys lost….but come on, all of you, let's get you a meal and a drink shall we?" said resident bike mechanic Ryuji from GTO greeted the newcomers as they headed off after a long ordeal to enjoy festivities…and see who the first sucker was gone…

* * * *

Outside, waiting for the first victim, Leena, Harry and Brad were waiting.

"I know he was cocky, but it's still weird seeing one of our own go so early…" Leena said.

"What, you feeling sorry for him?" Harry added.

"You kidding? I'm going to so make fun of him!" Leena said as Brad sweatdropped.

The crowd for Bit wasn't too big, but seeing Jayson enter with Bit Cloud through the entrance showed that something had happened to him.

Bit wore a sad frown on his face as Kelly tried not to look eyes with Jayson, who said nothing.

"I…didn't…mean to…" was all Bit said.

Leena had a list of things to say, everything negative…but seeing Bit like this wasn't right for the rider of the Liger. Leena went up to him and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Bit…" she started.

"Please, I know what you're going to say. 'Bit, you got what you deserved. Not only were you confident of winning, you hit a little kid and get yourself voted off.' It was an accident that no-one believed, so go ahead and make your own conclusion, because whatever you say, I don't care!"

Leena paused for a moment, and then chose her words carefully.

"Sorry you lost."

Bit looked up, as Leena wore a small smile on her face. 

"Now let's get you some real food before I remember what I was really going to say…" Leena said as she escorted Bit into the feeding chambers.

Harry and Brad looked on with shock.

"O.K, now where is the real Leena?"

* * * *

****

DAY 4

It had been a good day in the office for Donald Marco and Jim Slica. After the first round of odds, it was clear that Bit wasn't a popular pick for the masses, as most had voted for either the odds on favourite Kouji for the guys, whilst for the girls, Miaka was the popular pick for the chop.

With very little pay out, Donald chuckled as the first 3 days had been quite…profitable for the one time boss of AS Inc.

"Finally, the Don, has come back to AS!" Donald said to no-ones in particular.

"At this rate boss, we might have enough money to retire and get Tom some proper medication…" Jim Slica said to him.

"I wouldn't be that generous yet…" Donald was about to say but someone beat him to it. 

"Ah, Chris, glad to see you're here…" Chromus entered the betting booth on the first floor and smiled. 

"Not a bad start for you guys right? Although the wrestling stuff is mine by right, you're Donald Marco, not Dom Muraco. I certainly didn't predict Bit to go…" Chromus tore his Miaka and Roger tickets up to the snickers of Jim. 

"You could say that…" Donald said.

"Odds this week?" 

Donald got his special Washu-diagram board for this years' event and showed them.

ODDS:

Tai Yang Pai

KOUJI – 3-1 (FAV)

SEIYA – 9-2

ONIZUKA – 9-2

ROGER – 7-1

TRISTAN – 11-1

AH TSING – 16-1

GOTEN – 33-1 (OUTSIDER)

Yueh Liang Pai

MIAKA – 2-1 (FAV)

KIYONE – 5-1

UKYO – 5-1

MUTSUMI – 7-1

CASEY – 7-1

JADE – 7-1

UNE – 15-1

MICHELLE – 25-1 (OUTSIDER)

"Not a bad set…I've got my own theories…maybe I can join you in this…" Chromus asked, as he punched in a ticket for Une (not bad odds for her) and Roger. 

"What?" Donnie said, not quite getting that.

"I said, I wouldn't mind have a good at this myself. I mean, you're always looking for helpers right…well, considering the crap I deal with whenever Kel and Jase are within 5 metres of each other…heck, maybe I could do my own…a little competition never hurt…" 

"Sorry, no can do." Jim informed him.

"WHAT?"

"D Marco is the sole betting booth official to the AS Inc. corporation as owned by Survivor Globie. Any other imitations or actions involving the booth means that 95% of your profits for your work must come towards us according to conjuction 3.16 in our contract." Jim started

"3.16?"

"Yeah…don't f…"

"All right! I get the picture! Geez…" Chris laid his 10 English pounds down and walked away, cursing. He wanted to be in that…

…still, there's always another day.

* * * *

JusSonic is in the restaurant of the hotel waiting for his friend, Digi-Fan. He rarely have time for a vacation due to his adventures with the Histerians and the H! authors. The only three times Digi-Fan, his friend from the last game, ever visited is during the encounter with the second H! Haters League led by Dr. Clayton Forrester, during the second Crossover Party, and when she had a role in the Histeria version of Star Wars Episode V. Eventually, she came in with a person he never seen before.  
  
"Hi, Digi-Fan. Glad you made it. Who's this person?" JusSonic asked, referring to the new comer.  
  
"This is Yamato Lee. I bumped into him at the desk." Digi-Fan explained.  
  
"Call me Lee." The man explain.  
  
"Glad to meet you, I guess. Did you ever heard of my adventures with the Histerians?" asked JusSonic, grinning.  
  
"Not really, no." Lee answer.  
  
"Well, you should of. My favorite WB stars, both comedy and adventure team." JusSonic said proudly.  
  
"Wait a minute. Are you referring to the cast from the show that nearly cost a mad scientist named Gene Burrows to destroy the country?" Lee asked.  
  
"Yep and don't you go blaming that on them or else." JusSonic told him.  
  
"You should seen my first adventure with those blokes," Digi-Fan started, "I totally fired the Digimon fiend Puppetmon, and I really mean **fired**."  
  
Lee laughed at this, since he has known that Puppetmon is made of wood, and fire hurts wood. "I better played around until I can escape to go back to my room." He thought.

* * * *

Meanwhile, in a plot device far, far away….

Anime Master ZERO stood across from another individual in the reception area with a Duel Disk strapped to his arm. The look he had on his face upon his arrival made it clear that he was eager to try out his improved deck against some new opponents and currently he was dueling Joey Wheeler.

"It's your move again," said the author.

"Alright then, here I go," said Joey. He drew a card from his deck and glanced at it, causing a wide grin to spread across his face.

__

He seems confident, thought AMZ.

"Alright, author boy. Prepare to meet your maker," said Joey, "I now sacrifice my Panther Warrior to bring out Jinzo!" He removed his lower-level monster from his Duel Disk and placed his Jinzo card in its place. On the holographic battlefield, his Panther Warrior disappeared and the machine-type monster emerged.

"And now I'm gonna attack your Swordstalker," said Joey, "Jinzo, attack!" His monster replied by creating a ball of energy in its hands and firing them at AMZ's creature.

"Nice work, Joey. But now it's my turn," said AMZ as he drew his next card. He looked at it and then at his hand. "I now play Black Illusion Ritual. And I'll sacrifice the Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my hand to summon Relinquished. And I'll use its effect to take your Jinzo." As soon as the grotesque creature was summoned, it immediately inhaled Joey's Jinzo, causing it to appear on its protective shell.

"And that's not all," continued the author, "I also play Monster Reborn to bring back my sacrificed dragon from the Graveyard."

Joey could only look on at the author's monsters, but his eyes seemed to zero in on the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

"And since summoning Relinquished and the dragon are considered as Special Summons, I can still perform a normal summon," said AMZ, "And so I now sacrifice Maha Vailo and Mystical Elf to bring out another Blue-Eyes White Dragon." The author removed his two cards from the field and placed one of his two other Blue-Eyes White Dragons onto the field in their place. Joey could only look on as the rest of his Life Points were eliminated.

"Jeez! I can't believe I lost!" Joey yelled.

"Looks like the dog's been kicked out the door again," said Kaiba.

"Shut yer trap, Kaiba!" shouted Joey.

"Alright, that's enough, people," said Sora, "It doesn't matter if you win or lose. It's just a game."

"Easy for you to say, kid!" said Joey, "You're not up against some big jerk like Kaiba!"

"Who are you calling a kid?! I'm fourteen!" said Sora.

"What kind of a fourteen-year-old wears oversized shoes and a weird red suit with a big zipper and carries around a humongous key?!" asked Joey.

"That's enough, people!" said Kouichi, "This bickering is pointless."

"Besides, there's still one worthy person left that I have yet to duel," said Anime Master ZERO.

As if on cue, the doors from the docking bay into the reception area burst open. A boy probably no older than eighteen or so stepped in wearing a long purple hooded robe. His hair was long and white with just a slight tint of blond in it and he wire a pair of large golden earrings and a large golden choker around his neck. He glared at everyone with his light violet eyes as he walked across the floor while carrying some sort of golden scepter in his hand. It was none other than Malik Ishtar and he was flanked by several members of GHOULS. And as AMZ had guessed in his mind, Malik used his Millennium Rod on v_voltaire to obtain keys for rooms of the hotel.

"What's Malik doing here?" asked Yugi.

"I have no clue," said Takuya.

"It would be best to keep an eye on him," said Luna

.

"Yeah, who knows what he might pull? I don't trust that guy," said Riku.

"Malik," muttered AMZ, "The only worthy Duelist whom I have yet to face. All this time I've always wanted to try out some certain cards in a duel, but haven't been able to. Hopefully, Malik will change that."

Anime Minion ZERO approached his master with a golden box similar to the one the pieces of the Millennium Puzzle had been kept in. He watched as he reached in and pulled out three Duel Monster cards. Anime Master ZERO looked at those three cards before placing them back inside the box and walked away.

* * * *

****

DAY 5

The main problem whilst sitting in a hotel is that time goes very slowly. 

However, the restaurant wasn't having that problem…when you got the amount of cooks and chefs from various series it kinda isn't a problem. 

Naru was still looking forward to crush the next guys who stared at her (though Kitsune seemed to like it) in her waitress outfit…for some reason Motoko had avoided that honour (I guess Jayson does value his life after all). Along with the two hina girls, Teá who worked part time (under age I might add) as a waitress also ran up to eagerly feed Joey, the human stomach. 

In the kitchen, Brock was pretty much in heaven with all the cute girls cooking. Of course, there were guys as well, but just like Onizuka, Brock only saw the girls.

Kasumi Tendo calmly and politely cut vegetables with her lovely smile. Nuriko, who also doubled as the girls bodyguard if things went too hectic (although Naru was usually the real problem), was the Suzaku cook and she…I mean he cast a sly glance to Akito Tenkawa, with a chuckle, as the Aesti pilot tested the bowl of soup he had prepared for the Tenchi Muyo party, thanks to Sasami's instruction. 

Lita hummed a little ditty, and smiled seeing Tenkawa's ring. He may be taken, but there was plenty more fish in the see. That Ryoga guy was handsome (that lost act of his was pretty cute in her eyes), Jackie had that look of mystery around him, and although Mina seemed to have her eyes on Joey, maybe Lita could break the coldness around Kaiba's eyes…

Shinobu Maehara was humming next to Kasumi as Chi-Chi instructed as head of the chef's entourage. It was only morning, but breakfast or brunch went for no man (and indeed woman).

But it wasn't always that easy.

"Damn it, why do I have to wear this? Those perverts, they keep…gah!" Naru complained to Lita for about the 5th time. And with an accusing look to Brock, she said. "And why are those guys in there? Tenkawa I can understand, he's safe but him?"

"Hey, we need all the help we can. Do you know how many bottomless pits we have this year? Well, take Ranma, Tohru, Serena, Ash, Ryoko…er, pirate Ryoko…Kitsune…although that's many drinking, Joey, Zoe and all the DBZ cast here, and you get destruction! If we need an extra chef, man, girl, pervert…whatever. We need it Naru!" Lita said.

Naru sighed. Keitaro actually was O.K because he was studying for the moment to return to Tokyo U, this was a perfect time for him to catch up with what he missed during his broken leg. At least Kanako wasn't here…Naru blushed slightly. He may be a pervert, but he was _her _pervert.

"Shinobu-chan, are the rice balls in sauce ready?" Naru asked.

"Hai!" the chirpy young girl said, but as she handed it to her, she turned and gave a smile…

…pretty much sending Brock into euphoria.

"Ah miss, do you mind doing that again?" Brock said clasping Shinobu hands (she was already pretty much scared of Brock, this didn't help matters), and Naru fumed.

A combination of a Naru punch, Nuriko throw, Lita kick and Chi-chi's power rage, Brock would be the second person in a few days that Ami and Mitsukake would be having to look at.

"LISTEN ALL OF YOU! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF YOUR ECCHI WAYS! WE'VE BEEN HERE LESS THAN A WEEK, AND ALL I'VE HAD IS STARES! EVEN KEITARO IS BETTER THAN THIS…DISGUSTING!" Naru left the restaurant without a pause.

"Well, is that that time of the…" Kitsune didn't finish her sentence because she was being dragged out of there as well.

Of course, some of the guys weren't exactly agreeing with Naru's statement.

"Aw geez, we're not all like that for crying out loud! Well, maybe you Tama but…" Tasuki got an elbow jab to the head.

"Quiet, or I throw you in the…" Tamahome checked his list of terms for the 20th century supplied by Washu. "…swimming pool."

The other ancient Chinese reprisentatives were just as confused of this life, but knew that it was unfair how the girls were acting. Ah Tsing was at least dignified, so why should they take the heat from what others did?

"Master is showing respect, and we are not! Why is that?" Siro said.

Before Meiri was about to speak, a few of the guys turned and gasped, and showed the reason why Naru was pissed at them.

"What a cutie!"

But as she came through, the guys quickly whispered and gulped. The girl in question was accompanied by a man, which was only half the problem.

The other half was that they didn't recognise her…although many of them felt that they did…

* * * *

Amid the bustling activity of the Moon Kingdom hotel lobby, a lone man seemed to shift a little more effortlessly with the crowd. Most people paid attention to him because of his blood red gi, but many more paid attention to the cute bluenette maid tottering behind him.

"Yah! Yah! Forge ahead, people plough!" the petite girl playfully jeered.

He turned around. "People plough?"

"I need someone to push ahead all of the tall people and make way for little people with me."

"Ah, to play in the wake of the path I make."

"Haaaai!"

"Maybe you should walk in front of me instead, _Mahoro_," he jokingly leered.

The girl who was supposed to be Mahoro Ando, the kawaii automatic maiden, couldn't help but frown. "And get noticed by security? I wouldn't count on it, sempai!"

He shook his head and approached his girl, wrapping a protective arm around her. "My dear, don't be distressed. No one here would be upset with you. How could they be? And you were invited this time, so there's nothing to worry about. You're among friends, and if anyone were to lash out at you in any way, you know that I'd protect you."

She melted a little, blushing profusely. "And don't forget, I also have my trusty bag to help me through any tough situation."

He chuckled again. "Oh, of course, how could I forget?"

Suddenly, the romantic moment was interrupted as someone familiar called out to the automatic maiden.

"Star-chan!" cried Joe Mello as he approached the costumed girl and her beau. "It's too early to dress up for the cosplay ball, imouto."

Star sighed, the charade was over. "Onii-chan! How'd you know it was me?"

Joe flashed a clever grin. "You think I wouldn't be able to see through any of your disguises after last season?"

Artful gave his girl a comforting pat, his arm still over her shoulder. "Don't worry Star-chan, we'll put that costume to good use."

Feeling a little more comfortable, Star, Artful, and Joe Mello strode up to the reception to grab their room keys and head to their temporary residence for the next 39 days.

* * * *

In his room, Chromus sighed in euphoria.

"What was that for?" His opponent on the PS2, Ranma Saotome, said.

"Sorry, sorry…that was the sigh of a cute bluenette entering the hotel. I get these lapses sometimes…" Chromus said.

"Cute bluenette? Can't be Akane then…" Ranma said as Chromus glared at him.

"For the last time, lay off Akane…and also…" Chromus said.

"Yeah?" Ranma said, smirking, itching for a fight.

"…look at the screen."

Ranma turned to see Steve Austin nail Tajiri with a Stone Cold Stunner as Chromus covered. Ranma tried in vain to kick out but it was no use.

"No! Again!" Ranma complained as Chromus sighed.

"That's the 6th time…man, you guys are stubborn!" Chromus said.

"Guys?" Ranma said just before he was hit over the head with two sign from his Panda-papa Genma. One said, "YOU CALL YOURSELF A MARTIAL ARTIST?"

The other said "LET ME PLAY NEXT!"

As the two argued as best as a panda and an aqua-transexual could, Chromus decided next time he'd better challenge Quatre or Tommy. More sane…

* * * *

****

DAY 6

"Wow! This is a lot of space!"  
  
Persona, followed as usual by Vash and now Meryl and Milly, had just entered   
the vast and empty thirteenth floor of the hotel, preparing to re-open the   
night club once again.  
  
"Well what do you expect?" Milly asked. "After what happened last time I'm   
sure they left plenty of extra room for the night club now."  
  
Persona nodded, still scanning the floor. "I'll bet. Still, it can't hurt to   
double check. Just to make sure."  
  
Vash let out an exasperated sigh. "But I've already checked the size   
specifications of the floor. TWICE! Don't you trust me?"  
  
The silver haired author playfully clapped Vash on the shoulder. "Nothing   
personal friend, I'm just trying to keep the Anime Survivor brass off my   
back." He then produced what appeared to be a licensing permit. "This is the   
permit I was told to sign stating that the grounds must be inspected   
personally. I think inspecting the grounds four times over just to be safe   
will look very good on a piece of paper, wouldn't you agree?"  
  
"A wise idea." Meryl agreed. "We'll help check as well, just to be safe."  
  
"My dear lady, your confidence in me is awe inspiring." Persona said,   
letting the sarcasm flow freely.  
  
The inspection took the better part of two hours to complete, but the   
results were quite favorable. The floor not only matched the space   
requirements Persona had sent the management beforehand, but there was one   
hundred and fifty square feet of extra room just in case.  
  
"I'd say that's more than satisfactory." Persona said, marking down the   
results of the inspection on the permit to make it official. He then turned   
to Meryl for the final stamp of approval. "What say you then? Are we ready   
to open or what?"  
  
Meryl nodded and smiled. "Everything has been checked and is in order." She   
said, adding her stamp of authenticity to the permit. "Feel free to open   
whenever you like."  
  
"Great!" Persona exclaimed as he started towards the hotel phone on that   
floor. "I'll just make the announcement and we should be up and running   
within ten minutes!"  
  
***  
  
In the lobby of the hotel, Val was behind her desk, enjoying a well deserved   
break from the usual chaos that accompanied the first few days at the hotel   
as the guests checked in. It was during this welcome lull that the hotel's   
main phone phone started to ring.  
  
"Hello, front desk." She answered after picking up the phone. "How may I   
help you?"  
  
"Hey Val! How's life been treating you?" Persona's voice asked over the   
phone.  
  
"Not that bad at the moment." She replied. "Just enjoying a brief rest   
before things start getting crazy again. So, what can I do for you?"  
  
"I don't mean to intrude on your break, but I was wondering if you could   
patch me through the hotel's PA system? I'm about to materialize the night   
club and need to make the announcement."  
  
Val nodded. "Sure thing. Just out of curiosity, should I be ready to seek   
shelter under my desk?"  
  
Val could swear she actually saw the phone sweatdrop as she listened to   
Persona's embarrassed laughter. "Not this time, great measures have been   
taken to prevent that again."  
  
Val chuckled as she finished the connection. "Okay, you're all hooked up.   
Just hit pound, zero, and two to get on the air."  
  
"Thanks much Val! You take care, and try not to work too hard now."  
  
"I always try, not that it ever works. Good luck." Val said as she hung up.  
  
***  
  
After having punched in the code Val gave him and hearing the speakers in   
the room crackle to life, Persona addressed the hotel.  
  
"Hello everyone, and good afternoon. This is Persona, coming to you from the   
thirteenth floor to let you know that I'm about to summon the night club   
once more. The summoning may cause a slight shaking, but nothing to be   
concerned about, so please remain calm."  
  
Those new to Anime Survivor nodded and looked forward to the opening of a   
night club. At least they did until those who were regulars at the hotel   
began to scream in terror.  
  
*Oh, this is good!* Persona thought as the sounds of panic swept through the   
hotel. *Just once, I'd like to address a crowd without the response being   
silence or screaming!*  
  
The author once again addressed the populace. "I assure you that pain   
staking steps have been taken to prevent a repeat of last season! There's   
nothing to worry about. Trust me, I don't want to be sucking vacuum any more   
than the rest of you."  
  
Persona hung up and turned to the other three with him. "I think that went   
rather well, don't you?" He asked, with the widest fake grin he could   
muster.  
  
The three of them all sweatdropped, but Meryl was the one who spoke. "The   
mere sound of your voice causes a panic, and you wonder why we were assigned   
to watch you?" She half asked, half stated.  
  
Persona visibly deflated, sighing in defeat. "Aw, hell. Let's just get this   
over with." He said, removing his large club card from the inner pocket of   
his trenchcoat. "LARGE CLUB CARD!" He shouted, letting the card fly. "FORM   
AND REMOLD!"  
  
As the card worked it's magic, turning a large empty floor into a large   
fully loaded night club, a slight shaking, only barely noticeable, resonated   
throughout the hotel. This went on for about a minute and stopped once the   
club had finished forming. All in all, not even a drop of coffee in the   
cafeteria was spilled after it all was over.  
  
After everything had stopped a very smug, yet visibly relieved, Persona   
turned the PA back on and re-addressed the hotel. "The club has finished   
forming. Now was that really so bad?"  
  
Those who were really listening could hear Vash in the background. "Umm,   
boss? Now you're just being an asshole." Followed by a hushed, though still   
audible, "Shut up!" coming from Persona.  
  
"Anyways, the club is now open. Please drop in any time, we hardly ever   
close! Have fun and enjoy the rest of the competition!" That being said,   
Persona turned off the PA and turned to the others.  
  
"And that, as they say, is that. Anyone here want to join me in a toast to   
the first ever perfect opening of my night club?" Persona asked.  
  
Vash and Meryl agreed while Milly went to check out the rest of the club. "I   
have to admit," Persona said, with a Molson in hand "this season is starting   
off on the right foot!"  
  
"If you don't count that transport ship you blew up upon arrival." Meryl   
reminded him, causing Vash to laugh and Persona to choke for a second on his   
beer. "Come on Meryl," the author pleaded as pathetically as he could.   
"You're killing my buzz here!"  
  
The three continued like that until they heard Milly call out from the back   
of the club. "Mister Persona!"  
  
*Man that makes me sound old.* Persona thought before answering. "What is it   
Milly?"  
  
"Is this club supposed to be connected to a beach?"  
  
The three at the bar exchanged odd glances and went to see what Milly was   
talking about. What they found caused them to stop dead in their tracks.   
There was a row of windows along the wall, and they illustrated the problem.   
There was space to the right, and space to the left. This would have been   
perfectly normal, if not for the open door in the middle that connected to a   
tranquil beach.  
  
Meryl was very confused, but Vash and Persona were suddenly aware of what   
happened.  
  
"The door of doom followed me!" Persona exclaimed.  
  
Meryl, demanding an explanation, learned about the discovery of an   
inter-dimensional doorway last season that lead to a different and random   
location location each time it was opened.  
  
"Somehow," Persona surmised, "the doorway must have been incorporated into   
the magic that sustains my large club card. That means I'm stuck with it!"   
Persona yelled, as this was most unwelcome news.  
  
Intrigued, Milly closed and re-opened the door, this time leading to a   
lovely hot spring. "This is amazing." She said in awe.  
  
A thought suddenly struck Meryl like a train. "Milly, just why did you open   
a door that, for all intents and purposes, seems to lead into deep space?"  
  
Milly simply closed the door and shrugged. "I wanted to know where it went."   
She said, as if there was nothing strange about that.  
  
Meryl, Vash, and Persona looked at her in absolute shock for a second before   
promptly facefaulting in unison.  
  
Vash, while getting to his feet groped for something to haul himself up   
with. The something he found turned out to be the door itself, as he   
accidentally opened it once more. The scene before them this time looked   
like the inside of Fort Knox, a pity the door shut before any of them could   
grab it to hold it open.  
  
Vash shook his head. "Man! This thing seems to be paying off today!"  
  
"No kidding!" Persona agreed. "Let's see if we can find that gold deposit   
again!" He said as he opened the door once again.  
  
What he found was something big.  
  
Something big and red.  
  
Something big and red with a lot of teeth.  
  
The stars of Trigun were scared motionless at the sight of the behemoth   
before them.  
  
"W-what is th-that thing?!" Meryl managed to get out.  
  
Unfortunately, Persona knew exactly what it was, and that terrified him   
worst of all.  
  
"Saint Dragon! The God of Osiris!"  
  
One of the three Egyptian Gods from Yu-Gi-Oh!, the God of Osiris, known as   
Slifer the Sky Dragon in the dub, was looking right at the four of them. And   
opening it's second mouth.  
  
Persona knew exactly what was coming next.  
  
***  
  
"CRRRRRAAAAAAAAAPPPP!"  
  
Almost everyone in the entire hotel heard Persona's yell before the space   
station shuddered violently. Some had commented that they knew an event   
involving Persona going smoothly was too good to be true. All had decided to   
keep clear of the night club for a while.  
  
***  
  
A charred Persona lay on the floor of what used to be a new night club. He   
didn't look forward to the bill for fixing this place up.  
  
Thankfully, Osiris attacked with it's secondary, less powerful attack. This   
of course meant that the hotel still had a roof.  
  
Vash, Meryl, and Milly were able to get out of the way of the blast and   
avoided any serious injury, while Persona was content to just lay there and   
remember exactly why he had hated this door so much.  
  
After some effort, the author managed to drag himself into a sitting   
position. "Man, nuked by two Egyptian Gods in the same week!" He said,   
getting very depressed as he surveyed the damage. "What else could possibly   
happACK!"  
  
Persona never got to finish that sentence due to the fact that Meryl had   
jumped on top of him and proceeded to grab him by the collar and shake him   
repeatedly, effectively ramming the back of his head into the floor several   
times.  
  
"What are you doing?!" She yelled, while continuing the shaking. "After all   
that you still have the nerve to utter that ill fated sentence!? Are you out   
of your mind?!?!"  
  
She finally stopped and let go of the author, causing his head to smack the   
floor one last time. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"  
  
"Chicken go cluck cluck, cow go moo...." That was all Persona managed to get   
out before entering unconsciousness.  


* * * *  


Well, well, well.

That was the kind of look Michelle Ka'ioh got back after being the shock elimination on Day 6. A lot of the Sailor Moon fans including littlekitty and White Moon Goddess were in shocked, and so were a lot of betters. In fact, to Donnie's pleasure, nobody betted on Miss Ka'ioh, making his profits this time a high mountain.

Michelle however, simply enter the hotel with a pretty smile on her face. 

Home team advantage obviously doesn't always work. But her friends were always there.

Aside from Pluto, they were all there. First was Amara who simply shook her hand. Next was Raye who offered her condolenses (and offered to put a spell on the other contestants for being awful, especially those two kids). Serena hugged her as Michelle simply smiled. The other scouts, as well as little Rini and Hotaru were sad that she was back, but of course, happy as well.

And just to ruin this scene, an elated on the spot Donnie.

"Michelle, you have just left the island or moon kingdom with the worst record of any of the sailor scouts in any form of reality offering ever! What do you have to say?"

Ever felt a cold wind pass by in silence? That was the atmosphere that moment.

Amara glared at him, as Donnie gulped. Where was that idiot Tom when he needed him?

Michelle continued to walk to the restaurant where a nice dish of whatever she wanted was awaiting her, a nice consellation prize for her.

"Michelle, how come you lost then?" Mina said, perhaps the most surprised, being the winner last season, she thought someone like Michelle would have breezed it.

"My words came out the wrong way. They can be just as bad as actions in this environment. The two youngsters took what I said wrong, but sadly, they also focused on others and it worked. Our mistake, was assuming Miaka was going to go. Because of that, I never expected the counter smash from the three others who voted for me. Miaka I assume, and two from a pick of anyone except I think Kiyone. But I have no regrets, I played the game for myself, and I hope one of the girls can win."

"Well, they've had a good record so far, 3 out of 4 AS winners are girls, including Mina here, girl power!" Kelly said as she left to hurry to grab someone for the guest host duty for tomorrow.

A few of the guys grumbled off stage.

"Do they have to rub that in?" Gohan moaned.

"Yeah, the only male winner is Ash, how bad is that?" Trunks said.

"Thanks a lot." Ash grumbled.

"Oh don't worry, I'm sure those maidens will get what's coming to them…" chuckled Brock with a dreamy face.

The game (and the war) was hotting up.

* * * *

End of Side Story 1

Well, I've said my thanks, but as you can see, there are a number of plots beginning to form, some started by Globie, some by myself, and some by fellow authors. However, I hope that other people can add their own two cents into these ideas, plus more before the next SS comes up. Keep in mind I am very busy so the more the merrier and the bigger help it would be to me.

The next one will be there…when I say so! Until next time…


	2. Side Stories 2

****

Side Stories 2

Disclaimer: All the authors and readers that appear in this side story own themselves. Original characters that appear belong to their respective creators. Any nods and refs mentioned over the course of this document belong to their original sources.

Authors Notes 1: This covers Days 7-12, so anything for Episode 5 and onwards will be accepted from now. Of course, with episode 6 pretty much a joint effort, I'm pretty much got some scenes for that ready to rip.

Big thanks to…Descendant Of The Dragon, D Marco, JusSonic, Yamato Lee, Digifan, Zach Kaiser, Fetch, Little Serenity, Joe Mello, The main man (Arpulver), Ash Lillymon, AMZ and whoever else I missed.

****

* * * *

"Mister Globie, are you sure you don't want a new hairc…WAAAHHH!"

A casual swat with the Star Wand sent Kuno's father blasting off again. Descendant of the Dragon, formerly known as Survivor Globie, was simply relaxing in his summer beach house in Hawaii. Despite nearly been sacrificed to the gods a couple of times, and this pineapple head keep trying to give him a new do, life was pretty much good.

He however knew that things might be so good at the other side. Just to be safe…

Nah, he'd be alright. Chris was a reliable replacement, and as long as he took care of those do kanuckleheads Jayson and Kelly, it was no problem.

Then he thought about it more.

He got on his cell phone, just to be safe…

(Meanwhile…)

It had pretty much been a riot. Donald Marco's booth had been the richest that it had been. No-one had bet on Michelle, Miaka, Jade and Casey pretty much the favourites for the girls, Kouji and Onizuka for the guys. Donald's luck was with him, as he, Sam and company were wearing million dollar smiles.

However, on the negative side, a lot of the Sailor fans, including the Scouts themselves were pretty upset for Michelle's 'unjust' elimination. (The fact that two pre-teen kids outsmarted her never really a part of the argument) 

And to make matters worse, after shipping Misty out to do the guest host bit, Kelly had asumed control of episode 4, even though she had done episode 2…much to Jayson's disgust.

Oh, and somewhere, a girl was beating on a perverted guy.

Just the right moment for Chromus to get a phone call.

"Great, another headache…"

* * * *

"Chris, what's up?" Globie said, noting a hint of danger somewhere…

"Oh nothing. Aside from a Scout mutiny, broken holes over the place, guys vs. girls on AND off the island…oh, and Persona blowing up stuff as usual."

Globie sweared for 5 minutes straight…mainly from Persona blowing up stuff more than anything.

"You take care of the guys and girls…" He heard a groan but quickly ignored it. "…so asides from that, all been good?"

He could probably hear Chromus' sweatdrop.

"Jayson and Kel are arguing about who should host episode 4…I tell ya AFKAG, she's worse than Serena, Yurika, Mihoshi AND Mutsumi put together!"

"Afkag?"

"You know, 'Author Formerly Known As Globie.' Haven't got used to this dragon thing yet…'

It was Globie's turn to sweatdrop. But his main concern was his two hothead replacements. "So Kel being a pain? What about Jayse?"

"Not as bad, but he has a turn to explode. Kel is worse though, when the guys either flirted with her or wanted to know where Jayson was, it was temper tantrum time."

"I see…" Globie thought. That wasn't so bad…

"…and she screwed up Casey's family."

That was bad. Globie knew that compared to Star Otaku, they had the efficiency of a snail. However, a mistake like that wasn't human nature for him.

Chromus explained the Tigers vs. Electabuzz scenario before they even 'blasted off' (As this happened, James went through another hole. Chromus gave the order for the Old Dojo crew to fix another one, as Kasumi went past with a smile). Globie getting a bit more angrier by the second.

"Er…"

"I coming."

"But boss, you're on vacation. I can handle it."

DotD knew he was right. He was on vacation and he was sure Chromus could handle it. If all else failed, he knew guys like Star and Donald would also be of assistance. 

"I can ask Belle if things really get out of hand, although I don't like to…you know…"

DotD sighed. "Fine. But call me again if things go beyond that limit."

"Thanks. Want me to say hi to anyone for you?"

"Nope. How's everyone doing though, it's been 6 days. Island wise rather than hotel…"

"Well, Michelle got voted off, hence the Scout lovers problems. Bit as I faxed you was off first 3 days. I'm surprised that Miaka and Mutsumi are still there, but it looks good. Oh, and your man Ah Tsing is kicking booty as well."

A smile on his face told the story. "That's fine. You up for ep 6?"

"Yep, no prob. Skuld and Yukino gave me the fax. Chiharu got booted off, a bit disappointed, but hey, if they can't find him or her, they go."

"Just pray that…"

"I know. I know. I'll see ya round Afkag."

'Afkag' sighed but bid adieu to the British bomber and turned off his phone. He really did hate putting Chris at the deep end, but he knew that he could handle it.

Whether he could handle Kel and Jayson after a month was another story…

* * * *

Normally, Michelle Kaioh didn't get frustrated. Even though she had come face to face with the scum of the Negaverse and she had been the 2nd contestant to go, she rarely vented, or for that matter, showed any outward signs of anger or rage. So, it was rather uncharacteristic of her to enter her room and plop in front of her desk in a demi-huff.

Someone who especially took note of this partially emerged from the depths of the room. "Something's wrong," this person stated.

Michelle smiled. "It's just like you to state the obivious."

Amara finally came out of the shadows and sat down on the bed behind the desk. "So what's troubling you? It has to be pretty bad to make you like this."

Michelle sighed angrily. As she turned to face her fellow Senshi "This is all just so stupid, this 'battle of the sexes' everyone's having."

"Well, that's all part of the game, isn't it?"

"No, I mean in the hotel! This is so completely ridiculous with these people going against each other just because of some stupid TV show. It's like all of Civilization is taking 4 steps back!"

Amara tried to think of something she could say that could calm her life partner down. "Well, I guess you're right. But I'm sure that this is just a phase. The guests'll grow up and everyone will move on like last year and every year before it."

"I hope you're right. I would hate to be associated with this if it wasn't."

Well, whether it was a fad, or it wasn't, it was all a moot point as two heads were smashed through the two's front door.

"Aw, man. I really wish Zoe didn't always get caught up in this stuff like that," the first head said.

"Oh, so the girl in the neko cap was _your_ girlfriend?" The second asked the first.

"Well . . . in theory. Say, you're that hentai person I keep hearing about. Ke-it-ar-o. Right?" He asked, making pronouncing the name slowly.

"Yep. That's me. Keitaro Urashima."

"I'm J.P. Digimon 04, or Frontier depending on what you watch. I'd shake your hand, but I'd probably be unable to find it." This got a laugh out of Keitaro. "So, this happen to you often."

"Well . . . I normally don't go _through_ the door or wall. I normally just go into them."

It was about this time that Amara came from the other room to witness the two boys stuck in the door. 

It was also about this time that J.P. made his fatal error. "Um . . . uh . . . excuse me, sir, but could you please help us out of your door?" Keitaro cringed as J.P. did get loosed from the door . . . with the help of Amara's right knee. Unfortunately for J.P. the force of the blow knocked him into the door on the other side of the hallway. He was last heard saying, "Awww, dammit!"

Amara glowered at the shuddering Keitaro. "Do _you_ have anything to say?!"

The unlucky hentai shook his head vehemently. "Noooooooo!"

"Good." With that, Amara "gently" helped Keitaro out of Amara and Michelle's front door. As soon as he was free, Urashima ran towards the nearest exit. When Amara came back in, she noticed Michelle was chuckling to herself. "What's so funny?" Amara inquired.

"Oh, nothing," she bluffed as she headed towards the door (probably to raise someone at the front desk). "I was just thinking that perhaps we should start calling you Peppermint Patty, _sir_."

"Michelle!"

* * * *

J.P extracted himself from the door with blurred vision, and obviously slight hearing loss.

He needed to probably find a doctor. Of course, he'd prefer Zoe's TLC but…

The first person that came down was good. He'd ask this person where the medical office was.

And this was his second mistake.

"Er…sir, can you…!"

Ichino Yamagisa was not as forgiving as Amara, as her fist sent the Frontier boy blasting off again, with a distinct 'Why meeeeeeeeee?' echoing through the hotel.

"Damn idiots…" Ichino complained.

* * * *

"Now remember the rules. No feuding, no rivalries, and no getting caught up in anything remotely stressful."  
  
They had problems arranging for transportation, so it took awhile for Takato, Henry, Rika, and Jeri to reach the hotel. After the feud with the trainers last time, there was no way they were getting themselves in over their heads this time.  
  
Henry continued, "We are the third party. We're not getting involved with anything. We're going to be loafing around the hotel, cheering for who we want to win... and making the occasional side bet."  
  
"General rule," Rika looked at Takato and Jeri, "Don't talk to anybody."  
  
"Hello. I wasn't expecting you." Val's presence immediately destroyed any feasibility of Rika's plan.  
  
Takato stepped forward. "Yeah, well we like these things so much that we can't help but stop by!"   
  
Jeri smiled. "Since none of our friends are in the game, we can just relax in our rooms and cheer for Roger!"   
  
Val raised an eyebrow. "Roger? As in Roger Smith Big O Roger?"  
  
"Yep. He's our man this year!" Takato confirmed.  
  
"But... you're Digimon. Aren't you cheering for Koji?"  
  
"Who?" Rika was confused.  
  
"The Digimon representative?"   
  
"Oh..." Henry understood and whispered to Rika, "Fourth season I bet."  
  
"Oh." Rika said little more than that.  
  
"You're not cheering for him?" Val was confused. Show loyalty was everything. Everybody always cheered for their own shows.  
  
"Like we said, we're cheering for Roger!" Henry said.  
  
"Why Roger?!"  
  
"Well... we're cheering for Roger because Jeri's friends with someone who knows someone who knows Roger!"  
  
"Yeah, and definitely not because those Frontier kids killed the franchise," Jeri replied.  
  
Val shook her head in disbelief and headed back to her station, "I'll see what I can do to find you rooms. I'll let you know when I find something."  
  
"Thank you!" Takato shouted as the four entered the hotel.  
  
"That friend of yours is the same one who gave you that Navi right?" Henry asked Jeri.  
  
"Yep!" Jeri pulled said Navi out of her purse. It was a fairly advanced model, given to her as a birthday present by her online friend.  
  
"She's a little weird, isn't she?" Rika continued to interrogate as Jeri checked her e-mail.  
  
"Lain's not weird... she's just... misunderstood." Jeri perked up suddenly, "Oh, I got something from Dorothy! She says to meet us by the betting tables.  
  
Henry smiled. "Great. I heard an inside tip about this Bit kid. I hear he can go a long way. Wonder how he's doing."

At this point, J.P had finally dusted himself off for the second time, it seemed that second punch had at least cleared his head a bit more.

As he turned, he knew this one was a girl. More important…one who he recognised.  
  
"Hey! Aren't you Rika?" The four turned around. A husky boy in a blue jumpsuit was approaching them, dusting himself off from probably a not so nice experience.

He had no idea that this one could be worse…  
  
"Do I know you?" Rika replied.  
  
"You guys showed up to cheer on Koji! That's great! Maybe we won't look like laughing stocks now!" J.P. replied.  
  
"We're here to support Roger. We don't care about Koji," Takato replied.  
  
"I take it you're one of the Frontier kids?" Jeri asked.  
  
"Yeah... my name's J.P. You aren't here for us?"   
  
"Hey, don't worry about it. I mean, I'm sure you have lots of supporters," Henry said.  
  
J.P. looked down, "Well, not really. We just hung around one of the authors last time. And we haven't even seen much of him this time."  
  
"Well. We'd love to, uh, stay and chat, but we have to go find Jeri's friend. Maybe you can make friends with a series that's more like yours! That's what we're doing!" Takato said, smiling.  
  
"What do you mean more like ours? You guys are Digimon. It's the same show."  
  
Rika shot him a death glare. "Don't ever say that our shows are the same."  
  
"What's the difference?"  
  
"Let's put it this way. What we had was Evangelion but more goth. What you have is Slayers but more cuddly."  
  
"Rika, we'd better get going." Not wanting to provoke J.P. further, Jeri picked up the pace. The other three followed.  
  
J.P. folded his arms. He had a sense of admiration for the Tamers. They apparently had no such sentiment for him. In fact, it was almost as if they didn't respect him or his friends. There was something wrong with that. Wasn't there?  


* * * *

Back in his room, JusSonic is by himself. While he knows about the "men vs. women war" in the hotel, he doesn't give a care and decides to stay outta it. There is one woman he dislike though. Washu. JusSonic got angry.  
  
"I saw what she did in Anime Survivor 4. She has no right to do that to Henry, Jackie, Relena, and anyone else she hurts." mumbled JusSonic annoyed. "And yet, Pokejedservo chosen to have her for security at the House of Histeria anyway."  
  
That is another thing that bugs him. Washu stopped an invasion that was led by Gene Burrows. The House of Histeria! was a parody of Disney's House of Mouse. JusSonic wanted the main characters (namely the Histerians) to take care of things, but that no-good witch Washu got in the way. He REALLY don't like her.  
  
"Oh well. There is nothing I can do right now." said JusSonic. "Might as well see what everyone else is doing."

Unknown to him, a chuckle escaped as he left the room…

* * * *

****

DAY 8

  


  
* * * *

Middle of Day 8, and Donnie had filed in the next bet for the day. After Michelle's surprise eviction, a number has gone on the next outside for the girls Ukyo, but all the girls voted on were mostly Kiyone, although both Jade and Une had a few after the days' recent events. The guys on the other hand, it was pretty much Kouji, Onizuka and Seiya all the way.

With things, looking good, what Donnie didn't need was a phone call from an irate person who DIDN'T get to come this year. Seems that an experience on a rival survivor show had not really helped his cause to say the least…

…that and a shared body.

Fortunately for Donnie, it wasn't him that he was upset with. 

It was Chromus.

So with great pleasure, Donnie had called him to the booth, gave him the call, and watch Chromus' emotions change from anger, to disgust, to even more disgust…to smashing a $200 cell phone.

Ah well, put it on his tab…

*PHONE CONVERSATION*  
  
Chromus had prayed he would never see, never mind hear from the weasel again. However, coming from a West Bromwich Albion fan, luck never seemed to be on his side.

Tom Greenville had been getting the results and what was happening via Donnie, Jim and Sam, and despite Casey being the representative, she was still Pokemon, and Tom liked Pokemon. A lot.

And what he didn't like was what happened with Casey's family. Although it was Kelly's fault, Chromus seemed to take the brunt of the anger.

"Look. I DON'T CARE whether those Battle Athletes are here or not. All I'm asking is  
that you make room SOMEHOW for Ms. Clemens' family. Build a new wing or floor. Convert a little-used portion, boot out the Zoids people, WHATEVER!"

Chromus hated that voice ever since he was forced to speak in it. With that, Chromus simply switched off with a scowl and noticed the booth snickering.

With rage, he smashed the phone on the floor, and muttered a few words which at the moment, he didn't think he could do.

"You will pay."

How wrong we all were….

* * * *

****

DAY 9

Apart from the odd hentai problem, it had been fairly peaceful in the last three days as Kelly and Jayson hadn't killed each other much, watching Misty's performance to see if she could fair any better when it came to Tribal Council.

Jayson was still peeved about getting denied ep 4 though, he just tried really hard not to complain about it.

Not helped by a smug Silversmith though.

Most of the cast was watching the latest immunity challenge however, and some were pleading their case to Naru and other girls that they were pretty much pure of heart…

"My man here wants to say something which I've been wanting to hear for a long time…" Joey Wheeler patted a shoulder….

It was the shoulder of a battle aura, and very annoyed Suzaku Warrior named Tamahome.

"IF…TRISTAN…EVEN…LOOKS…AT…MIAKA…THAT…WAY…" Tamahome said.

Yugi, Naru and Akane all sweatdropped at the look of madness in his eyes (and the gleam of mischief in Joey's ones), but it seemed that Akane had been well scouted in the majority of the characters, also helped by Big O's Dorothy, and she seemed to believe Tamahome. The Suzaku warriors were pretty decent, as were Ah Tsings friends to be honest.

Then again, those guys were Chinese. As for her fellow Japanese…

"O.K, Yugi, we know you're safe…Joey I'm not so sure…" Mai Valentine chuckled as Joey got auraed up himself.

"So, the dog threatens with his paws then?" Kaiba said passing by.

"I'M NOT A DOG!"

When Fetch walked by, Joey was convinced there was a conspiracy in the hotel and decided just to sulk for a while until Yugi came back onto his side.

"Ryoga-kun is a nice decent person Naru-san, if only he would be here at times rather than getting lost or trying to pick fights with Ranma…" Akane had lost count the amount of times the Old Dojo had come to fix the place up, not just with the fighting, but with the amount of hentais that had been put through walls.

"Maybe, but those guys on the island seem to be content either just laughing at the girls or making eyes at them! Aside from the little guy and Mr. Tsing…gah! I fear for Mutsumi if she survives that long…" Naru said.

"Oh come on, they all aren't that bad…" Azusa Fuyutsuki came up, although she was also a bit nervous about Onizuka's behaviour…

"Seiya is, that's for sure." Akito Tenkawa, just on his break, was also watching the end of the immunity challenge.

"I guess not everyone that comes from your era can be a nervous gentleman, right Tenkawa?" Lita said (also on break). 

Naru sighed. "O.K…I guess I'm wrong then. You guys aren't all that bad…"

As she said that…(and ignoring Mihoshi's bawling) 

"Hey, they tripped Jade!" 

"That's not fair!"

"Alls fair in love and survivor!"

And then…

"Tai Ying wins immunity!"

A cheer from many of the men came, and the women seemed to stare at that cheer with evil eyes.

Naru and Akane's auras flared as a bunch of cameos, authors and characters were about to be mowed down.

"Tamahome, call 911…" Joey said.

"What's 911?" the ancient Chinese native said.

"Never mind…" Yugi sweatdropped.

* * * *

When Misty called the Spirit Card to eliminate Une from the game, most weren't too surprised. A few of the betters went to collect their prizes, but aside from that, it was waiting for the former aide to Trieze Kushrinada.

And the first in line was his young daughter (who sounded a bit too much like Madison), Mariemaia Kushrinada. In her wheelchair, carrying a bouquet of hyacinths.

"Always were her favourite flowers…" Noin said on her side.

"Disappointing, but I guess that's the way it goes. Maybe our side was never meant to have good luck with these games…" Sally added.

"Has Miss Darlian been informed?" Quatre said.

"Relena has indeed been informed. She sends Une her regards and best wishes, as well as a little disappointment." Noin informed the Arabian Gundam Pilot.

"Tell her, I said thank you."

They all turned, and saw the 3rd victim of the Survivor, and 2nd to the alliance, Lady Une. However, she certainly didn't seem disappointed, with her trademark sly smile.

"Glad you see you again." Duo said.

Une bowed. "I'm sorry I couldn't do better, even further than Minister Darlian, but…I guess my own strategy failed, maybe I'm getting soft."

Noin put a hand on Une's shoulder. "Trust me, I fell for their act as well. It wasn't fair, but it was legal." Noin said.

"That…and voting for Miaka last time…" Duo added, as Une sighed.

"I made a mistake. I never make mistakes. " Une seemed ready to rant, but then a bouquet came into her arms. "Huh?"

"Miss Une, well done." The young girl, once ready to take over Trieze's position and to control the world, was now a simple understanding girl, injured from a bullet shot which nearly killed her.

Une's few feelings of hurt were now gone. She smiled and accepted the bouquet.

"Thank you. Miss Mariemaia."

The family from Gundam left silent, without razzmatazz, but it was almost like a family scene. At least, like back home, peace was at the Moon Kindgom…for once.

* * * *   


****

DAY 10

"Hey, I noticed the Tamers were here? That's kind of cool!" Takuya, Zoe, J.P., and Tommy were at the restaurant. 

"Not that great..." J.P. mumbled.

"What's wrong?" Zoe asked.

"I was talking to them earlier today... we got dissed."

"Dissed?" The other three said in unison.

"Yeah, dissed. I don't think they respect us one bit. They don't even consider us the same show anymore."

"Well why are they here? Who are they cheering for?" Tommy asked.

J.P. looked down in misery, "Roger."

Zoe put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about it. They can cheer for whoever they want. We're all still cheering for Koji, right?"

Takuya slammed his fist on the table. "No! Those guys are our Digimon brethren and I won't stand by and let them frown on us!"

"Takuya, you spilled my water..." Tommy began wiping up his part of the table.

"Well, we have to find a way to fill it back up, and earn their respect again! Because we can't just let our own allies be blind to everything we've accomplished! We save the world too!" 

"Well I'm in!" Zoe stood up, showing her support for the leader.

"I'm in too!" J.P. stood up, ensuring that he wouldn't lose points with Zoe.

"I guess so." Tommy stood up, because there was a wet spot on the tablecloth he couldn't reach.

"So what's the plan, Takuya?" Zoe asked.

"First thing's first. We get to know them one-on-one. Everybody- pick a Tamer and start chatting with them. Make sure they know who we really are."

"When do we start this?" J.P. asked.

"Got your orders right here..." Teá interrupted, arriving with four meals.

"Right after dinner!" Takuya sat down, immediately followed by the other three.

"So who had the triple orders of cheeseburgers?"

"Right here!" Zoe and J.P. shouted.

----

"Look, you seem to be a nice enough guy, but..." Takato was clearly hesitant around Takuya.

"But?" 

"Well, I have a bad track record with goggle boys. I mean, I wasn't exactly on the best terms with Tai or Davis. And Ash is idiot enough to classify as one too."

"Wait a minute! Just because I wear goggles doesn't mean that you have to immediately label me as a goggle boy. And besides! You're a goggle boy!"

Takato pointed to the top of his head, and his unbound brown hair.

"Oh."

"Look, I'm guessing you're just as stupid and as crazy as all the others, so I'd prefer not to deal with it this time. I'd like to get through just one Survivor without goggle-boy related stress." Takato walked out of the hall and into his room. Takuya's mission... failed.

--

Henry laid down a Seadramon card over a Betamon. He was playing solitaire- everybody else at the hotel was into a different card game. 

"Hey, need someone to play against you?" J.P. approached Henry.

"I guess," Henry was uncaring, but it was better than playing alone. J.P. hurriedly sat on the other side of the table and shuffled his deck. 

"Sorry about before in the lobby. I'm just a little down that you aren't supporting Koji. I mean, you know how highly show loyalty is regarded around here."

Henry shuffled his deck and set it off to the side. "Well, yeah, but let's be honest, I don't see Koji going all that far."

J.P. scoffed, "Well, it's not like you got anywhere last time."

Henry raised an eyebrow. Clearly J.P. wasn't winning him over.

"Sorry. I just wish you'd understand that we're Digimon just like you guys. And we have to stick together no matter what."

"You can go first," Henry said without commenting on J.P's speech.

J.P. drew cards, then played one on the table, "Okay... I'll play Celtic Guardian in attack mode."

Henry glared at J.P. before speaking, "Show loyalty, huh?"

J.P. caught the drift as soon as he caught sight of Henry's Digimon cards, "Um... hey it's a popular game!" 

Henry was unimpressed.

--

"I just want to talk with you for a little bit!" Zoe was flagging down Rika. Rika was walking briskly to her room. "Please? I mean, J.P.'s upset about the way..." she was getting no response. "Um... I just want to get to know you better. We're the Digimon girls!" The only response was a light snort; Rika kept walking. Finally, Zoe tried a desperation move, "I'm a big fan of your mother's!" Rika slammed the door in Zoe's face.

Zoe sighed once, "Hm... that went well."

--

"Okay, this round I'm going to get you for sure!" Jeri shouted as the new round began. She and Dorothy were playing an online computer game with a third companion somewhere in cyberspace.

"You are going down, Jer'," Dorothy said in her typical caustic tone.

The game proceeded for awhile until Tommy showed up. "Hey! What are you doing?"

"Killing each other with swords," Dorothy replied, dryly, adding, "It's fun."

"Can I play!" 

"Sure!" Jeri cheerfully accepted the offer. During a break in the action, Jeri got Tommy signed on, hooked up, and the four-way was on. 

It wasn't long before one of the players fell.

"...and my head's cut off," Jeri said, rather whimsically. It was all just a game. But even so, she was a little upset, "Dorothy, why are you swinging my head around like that?"

"Good luck charm," Dorothy replied.

"Dorothy, behind you!" Tommy shouted. But it was too late, the online player had already eliminated Dorothy, and her sights were now set on Tommy.

Tommy did the smart thing, he screamed, and ran. 

"Good luck Tommy, she's good," Jeri encouraged him as he looked for a suitable hiding spot.

Tommy was panting as his character ducked down under some old ruins. The online player was closing in, but couldn't see him. Tommy was still overwhelmed by it. 

"Mustn't run away... Mustn't run away... Mustn't run away, Mustn't run away!" 

His rants were starting to draw attention from on-lookers.

"Is he okay?" Bit asked.

"Calm down kid, it's going to be alright," Akito attempted to comfort him, but he was beyond help.

"Mustn't run away, mustn't run away, mustn't run away... AH!!" Tommy started screaming and moved out of the hiding spot. He continued to scream as he sliced into his opponent. The screams continued as the game pronounced Tommy as the winner. But Tommy wasn't satisfied.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!" He kept shouting.

"She's already dead!" Digifan cried.

"Eating her will give me power!!" Tommy yelled back. At this point, Jeri and Dorothy forced him away from the computer. 

"Good call girls. Better give him some rest," Akito was equally concerned for the boy at this point.

But Tommy eluded capture and ran to a clearing in the hallway, carefully watching his back.

"They're all around me... everywhere, they're all aroundme..." Tommy looked like he was clutching the sheath of his sword. It was actually one of the braces of his suspenders- the ones that always hung limp at his sides. But Tommy didn't seem to notice, and in a fit of paranoia, held it for dear life as he proceeded across the room.

Until he bumped into Tatewaki Kuno. Tommy jumped back and "unsheathed" his "sword." 

Kuno was undaunted and pulled out his real kendo stick. "Even one with an intimidation technique as yours will not stand up to the Blue Thunder!" 

Tommy continued to pant as pretended to hold the sword in a state of readiness.

"I accept your challenge young boy!" Kuno charged after Tommy. Tommy dodged skillfully, and brought his hands up, as if slicing something with the sword.

The crowd was impressed enough... until Kuno's kendo stick sliced in half, seemingly on its own.

"Uh... how did that happen?" Kitsune was the first to ask. But everybody else was wondering the same thing. 

And they couldn't ask Tommy. He was still clutching his imaginary sword like a paranoid madman and roaming the dangerous hallway back to his hideaway.

* * * *

JusSonic is looking around for a phone. He sees Kelly, just about to leave for her role for episode 4.

  
"Excuse me, miss?" he asked.

  
"Yes, what is it?" snapped Kelly.

  
"Uh, first, where's a phone, and second, do you know how I can contact Globie?" asked JusSonic nervously.

  
"Globie, Globie, Globie. It's always Globie! You men think you are so great when us women are better! You think we are nothing than property!" yelled Kelly.

  
"Hold on, miss. I have no beef with you." JusSonic protested.

  
"Go away!"

  
Kelly stormed away. JusSonic looked puzzled.

  
"Now what's that all about?" JusSonic shrugged and walk away. He then bump into the last person he wanted to bump into.

  
"Hello, and you are?" Washu ask in her usual way.

  
"Go ahead, you witch!" snapped JusSonic.

  
"Oh, now what's this all about?" Washu smiled her devilish smile.

  
"You know who I am, so stop pretending." JusSonic said annoyed.

  
"Oh right. At that winter party, right. I must admit, you shoulda been impress of how I handled those invading villains." Washu said.

  
"Heck no! I wanted the Histerians to handled them! It is their club!"

  
"So it is. But you must admit those type parties deserves some twists after all. Besides, your friend Pokejedservo hired me because I am a genius."

  
"More like a witch! You shouldn't be allowed in the House to begin with because of what you did to Henry and the others in the last Anime Survivor!!!!"

  
"So what? Is it my fault they were so trusting in me?"

  
"You broke Jackie's heart!"

  
"So what if I did?" Washu said, looking like she is going to outwit JusSonic.

  
"You are not a genius, and you are never are if you think you are going to outwit me!" JusSonic said angrily.

  
That did it.

  
"I am so a genius and I am prove it right now!" Washu said angrily.

  
She then whips out her computer and type in something.

  
"What are you doing?" asked JusSonic, not liking what Washu is doing.

  
"I am going to open a portal. You don't see a genius do that do you?"

  
"Well..."

  
Before JusSonic can say anything, a portal opens up.

  
"See? I did it." said Washu satisfied.

  
Before anyone can do anything, three figures jump out of the portal. They look like Globie, Star Otaku, and Blackstar, but evil looking.

  
"Hey, how did we get here?" said the Blackstar lookalike.

  
"I don't know, but I believed we are in an alternative universe." said the Star Otaku lookalike.

  
The Globie lookalike smiles evilly.

  
"Well, now. We can just get the stuff we can get to return to our world and destroyed Alan and take over Anime Survivor, my fellow evil authors!" laughed "Globie".

  
The villains laughed and ran off. The portal closes, while JusSonic and Washu stared, shocked at what they see. JusSonic spoke up.

  
"I am not going to fix it. You're the genius." JusSonic said.

  
JusSonic walked away before Washu can said anything.

"How did I get mixed in this?"

* * * *

"You American piece of trash! Give me that!"

Joe was taken aback by what he just heard. "Why, Miss Botan. I'd never think you of all people would say that."

"Well, I'm sorry, but you have to realise that I'm not in the best of moods, so could you GIVE ME BACK MY OAR?!"

"What could make you so distraught?" As if on cue, another infected human came up from behind. Joe quickly whacked him with the newly acquired boatman's oar and the target was knocked out. The Makai insect that infected the human departed its host and quickly fused with the bottom of Joe's sneaker.

The Kawaii Reaper looked on in awe, but only for a moment, as she was still pretty mad. "Now, will you give me my oar back?! Please?!!"

"Don't worry," Joe said as he opened up his "Star" Gate. "I'll have it back to you before the end of the saga." He began to step in. "Besides, it takes awhile to kill Saint Beasts." With that, he left the realm of _Yu Yu Hakusho_.

In other news, back at the hotel, Tea Gardner was just finished with her shower. She finished towelling her body and began to put on her clothes when there was a knock on the door. She finished getting into her fuku (after all, it is her token outfit) and opened the hotel room door. There wasn't anyone there, only a cart with a covered tray on it. Well, there was also a cat, and a black one at that (which represents _Trigun_), but Tea shooed it off the lid. _This _has_ to be the cheesecake I ordered, _the aspiring dancer thought to herself. _I placed the order with room service a good half-hour ago. Oh well. At least it's here._ She opened the lid, just waiting to be greeted by fat and cholesterol. Unfortunately for her, she met the old knockout-gas-inside-the-silver-tray gag. She, as per usual, collapsed. Then, not too far behind, there was the mandatory evil laugh. "MWAHAHAHA! Don't worry about leaving a tip, little Tea. I will glady take Yugi's Millenium Puzzle for my services. MWAHAHAHA!"

Back on the less plot-developed side, Joe was examing his new piece of wood. After giving a once-over, he hopped on (but not side-saddle, like Botan). _I hope this works. I sure don't want to take the bus_. He put the imaginary kickstand down and put in some gas. He revved the nose a bit, then depressed the brake and hit the accelerator. Then came the hard part of trying to control a magic oar speeding around hotel hallways at up to 50 kilometers per hour.

Tea finally came out of her unconscious state. The first this her eyes set upon was that of her captor. 

"M . . .Marik!"

"So glad you could finally join me, Tea." The evil Yu-Gi-Oh villian retorted.

Now, normally, one would worry about what was going on, but not Tea. "You bastard! You ate my cheesecake and replaced it with a knockout gas thingie!"

"Ha! What descriptive language. And believe me," he added with grim honesty. "The cheesecake was nothing spectacular."

"But still, you stole my food!"

"And in a couple of minutes, I'll steal you life! That is, of course, unless the Pharoah comes and relinquishes his Millenium Puzzle in exchange for your safety."

"You bastard! What do you want with me?!"

Marik went into evil plot-telling mode. "If you haven't noticed already, you are tied down and the ropes are bolted to the floor. The Pharoah will certainly notice you being in danger and rush to your aid. There are only two problems. 1) The knots can only be undone with the powers of my Millenium Rod!"

"Well, duh! It's got sharp pointy things on the end."

"SILENCE!! You migth be interested in the second problem the Pharoah faces."

"I doubt it. And why do you keep calling Yugi, 'The Pharoah'? Vegeta does the same thing, in a sense and I think it's stupid."

"Because I do.. I could call him Sailor Anzu if I wanted to." Tea sneezed at this remark. "Anyway, the second problem awaiting _THE PHAROAH_ is that he doesn't have all day. I can sense with my Millenium Rod that something is approaching at a very high rate of speed. If it continues at this pace, it will surely turn you into a pancake!"

"Quit making think about food, you evil cheescake-stealing son of a…"

"WHACK!" One Millenium Rod shot later and a civil report for equal rights for women later, Marik continued.

"Don't talk to me like that. I could just as make you my Mind Bi . . . Slave and force you to take Yugi's Millenium Puzzle yourself."

"Were you just about to say . . ."

"You were gonna say it, too. And if you hadn't noticed, I did call him 'Yugi ' Happy now?"

"No. Let me out of this rope!"

"Only if I control the Millenium Puzzle! And by the sounds of the cheesy piano music (yes, there is cheesy piano music) your end is near! Your little 4,000-year-old boyfriend had better hurry."

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!!"

"Tch. Yeah, right. And I'm the Queen of France."

(After Roger Klotz filed a lawsuit about stealing that line, the plot may continue…)

While Marik absconded to the safety of a nearby hotel room, Botan's oar continued to accelerate, and Joe continued to futily slow it down. Tea and Joe soon came into each other's view. The tension was high. The piano music had reached a fevered pitch.

"Miss Dorothy! You should know by now that Master Roger is still competing in the Survivor Game!"

As the quirky stoic android finally gave up the prestissimo (i.e. very fast) serenade, the time of reckoning was near. Yugi was nowhere to be found and it looked like Tea was about to become Duelist-kabob. At almost the last second, Joe rotated the oar so that he was upside down. He skillfully scooped up the shreiking damsel and right the both of them in about 5 seconds.

Marik was beside himself. "WHAT?! HOW COULD HE HAVE GOTTEN HER OFF THE GROUND?!! THE ROPES WERE BOL . . ." He quickly turned around to see two stakes laying on his bed. He screamed out an Egyptian phrase that translated to "Golly gee willikers," "Gosh, dang it," etc., etc.

However, Joe and Tea were not out of the woods yet. There was still the issue of slowing down and stopping. Thankfully, the oar had already decelerated since it wasn't built for 250 lbs. of human.being, but they were about to run into a wall, anyway.

"Hang on!" Joe needlessly exclaimed as he started to bring the nose up. It started to slow down more and more, but they were still going to crash. Almost in self-defense, both Joe and Tea lifted their legs (although we're not sure how she did it) and their feet hit the wall. Miraculously, with the help of both Physics and Inertia, their legs bent and was able to slow the oar to a stop. Of course, they were vertical, so they both fell.

Unfortunately for Joe, they landed in one of those precarious positions that got him in trouble the last Anime Survivor. I say unfortunately because after Tea managed to free herself, she decided to take out her frustration on the nearest animate object.

A few flurries of punches later, Tea decided to go up to Marik and literally show him where he could stick his Millenium Item.

After the carnage had been laid, who else should appear but Yami Yugi, panting heavily. "Sorry . . .I'm late . . . there was traffic . . . in the elevator . . . so I took the stairs." He looked at the destruction, as well as an unharmed Tea. "I guess you made it out okay."

"You think _I'm_ okay?!!!" Luckily for Yugi, Tea only used Botan's oar to whack him around. The others knew what would happen if she used her fists.

When all was said and done, Tea walked calmly to the elevator to explain her dilemma to Room Service, leaving the three males to suffer in lonliness. To all four involved in the incident, one thing was certain.

That day of the month was a very dangerous day.

* * * *

****

DAY 11

"Ah, another vic…I mean customer…welcome!"

Donnie smiled. He'd finally got Chromus to give in to bringing Tom here, as he couldn't get the usual victims this year to help out with the betting booth, so he could need the help of Sam, Jim and Tom.

Shame Chris was such an idiot about the situation. Why was he so steamed anyway?

The young girl went up to the booth, and of course, wasn't there for idle chitchat.

  
"Oh hi, please can I please make a bet on the next evictee?" said Digifan.

"Sure. Who would you like?" said Donnie.

  
"Oh" Digifan thought. She wasnt going for one of the males it was too difficult.

  
"Please can I have five English pounds on Kiyone please?" she said. 

  
"Not a problem." Donnie accepted all forms of currency, dollars, pounds, euros, drachmas, lira, yen and beer of course. (They all had their weaknesses)

Sighing from a long distance, Chromus was not happy. He couldn't get his own ambition of working in the betting booth done, Donnie had pretty much somehow got to get that idiot Tom to come here (He still had nightmares about sharing his body) and now one of his good friends was into the betting as well.

Sighing from a long distance, Raye Hino was not happy. The only one of the inner scouts who hadn't been involved in a survivor, and the fact that Michelle just cut off so early, especially that betting guy on his 'on the spot' interview, just to make things worse. Plus the perverts had been pretty much normal…where's Tuxedo Mask when you need him?

The two sighed…before realising they were on the same table.

"YAAAAAAAHHHH!"

"Geez Rei-ch…I mean Miss Hino, sorry, I didn't see you there…" Chromus said, after recovering from his partial heart attack.

"Arggghhh…I hate surprises, I've decided. Everything here has been nothing but surprises, and not too many good ones either…"

On cue, the hentai of the day, this time Joey Wheeler, went flying through towards the booth. Apparently, Mai didn't appreciate him trying to talk to her whilst she was in her portable shower.

Chromus span 180 degrees and smashed his elbow into Joey's head and sent him flying back in the opposite direction, where the medical booth was. Ami, Joy and Mitsukake were getting their hands full this term.

"Hmmm…8.5. Not bad." Raye said.

"Thank you." Chromus said. "I just don't get it…I'm trying to get into learning the betting business, and Donnie and company don't want me to, yet when they made the request that Tom needed to be here, I was forced to go into it!" Chromus yelled.

"Oh come on, at least you're involved in this, what about me? What haven't I got that the others have? Serena, Lita, Mina and Michelle, all here, and even with you, you chose Ami over me! What was that?"

Chromus blushed. "Oh yeah…sorry about that Raye…" 

The pain approaches…

..but Raye didn't attack.

"I'll let you go this once…besides, I wish there was some way…" she started.

"…to really shut his trap up." Chromus added. "But the only thing he worries about is his business, and unless his business is in danger, then there is nothing to do. His business is booming at the moment, and the only way for him to be miserable is if he had so little profits, and the only time he had so little prof…"

Suddenly, a sly smile came over the author's face.

"Raye, I've got an idea to help both our causes…but I may need your help. You are a priestess right?"

"Yes?"

"Well, you're also a psychic and a fortune-teller too, correct?"

"Yeah…what's the point? The speech is becoming more longwinded than Serena's speeches…"

Ignoring that last comment, he continued. "Well, I think I have an idea…" 

Chromus began chanting something, Raye couldn't hear it, but the first word she heard was 'Technique…'. After that, he stopped.

"I've got to go for a second…but when I come back, I'll explain everything Raye." Chromus began to walk as Raye looked confused.

"Where you're going?"

Chromus smiled.

"To see an old friend."

* * * *

Jayson was still not happy. Sure, Kelly was away on the island for now, but again, he had been missed out because Kelly had decided that her friend Mina was going to guest host for episode 5 in two days.

On top of that, the third person in charge had taken a leave of absence, and for the time being, it was just really him in the thick of things, as neither Donnie or Star really wanted much to do with anything now.

"They better get me something to do for episode 6…"

Meanwhile, he was busy in the exercise room, watching many of the anime characters flex their muscles and wear their tight clothes. Jayson could have been eying up the women…or the men, but then again, it wasn't like anyone paid attention to him anyway…

"Damn it." He said to himself.

The swimming pool was a favourite spot, and a swimming competition had started between Ami, Michelle, Tamahome, Motoko, Ranma-chan, Jackie, Harry and Duo. On the exercise machines, trying to work them out, was Tasuki, whilst Akane pretty much demonstrated why Ranma called her a macho chick half the time (the other half he was getting beat up). The bikes were been held by Mina, Sasami and Ryoko Subaru, as Tenchi was obviously trying to hide.

Suddenly, three familiar figures entered the room.

"So, do we take over the world now?" 'Blackstar' asked.

"Nah, let's just be incognito…" 'Star' said.

"Yep, just watch." 'Globie' finalised.

5 minutes later…

"So how was I supposed to know that Globie had changed his name?" 'Globie' complained, holding his jaw from an Amaguriken.

"He wasn't even in the hotel you idiot!" 'Star' moaned, covered from head to do with soot, the anime reaction when fire had been shot of her, courtesy from Tasuki.

"At least you w-w-weren't frozen to bits…" A stray Shine Aqua Illusion had been the problem for 'Blackstar.'

"We'll be back…" 'Globie' threatened to no-ones in particular.

Back in the exercise room…

"Geez…you think we're idiots…" Akane said.

"Well, I don't know about Tama there…" Tasuki cracked.

Soon he was hung upside down, and being dangled by Tamahome over the swimming pool.

"Care to rephrase that?" Tamahome said.

"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!" Tasuki begged, after all, the poor bandit can't swim.

Just as Tamahome looked ready to give in to his evil ambitions, Washu hopped along.

"I'm not too late am I?"

Everyone sweatdropped.

* * * *

****

DAY 12

This time, it was the girls that were celebrating. Victory for the girls meant that the guys had the honour of Tribal Council, and a few were talking about the girls chances and the guy who looked doomed.

"Casey is pretty good for a leader!" Misty said.

"Well, she's got some of Ash' trademarks…stubborn, stubborn and being more stubborn!" Brock said.

"Guys…" Ash groaned. Although secretly, he was quite proud of her.

However, with the betting offically stopped for Council day, a lot were a bit annoyed they couldn't bet on Kouji, as whilst a few betted for him, Kiyone was pretty much the hot pick over the last two days. 

"Kouji is toast…put him on fried bread and say arrivederci to him." Zoe said. She had heard from J.P that the Tamers were here somewhere, although she hadn't see them. And what she had heard, she hadn't liked.

Then again, maybe J.P was trying to impress her. It did sound like he was, protecting her from the 'evil' Tamers. Maybe she'd have to see for herself.

Ah-Tsing was getting a few admirers as well, to the surprise of many, as Donnie was busy working out odds for next episode as well.

However, what he wouldn't know was that next episode could be the start of the beginning of the end…

Whilst people were arguing if Kiyone was going to go next, how kawaii Goten and Jade could be, how Mutsumi survived this long, how Miaka hadn't complained about lack of food and who'd win in a fight between Ukyo and Onizuka, the sailor scouts were pretty much not bothered about what was happening here.

Except one.

Raye turned a corner and saw a familiar person.

"O.K, so you're here, so what's up?"

Chromus had a sly smile on his face.

"Tomorrow, we're going to start a little business of our own. Now, Donnie will figure something if I'm involved…so…"

He whispered to Raye and the girl was a bit surprised.

"That will never work! How the heck could you know th…"

"40% cut."

That changed her mind.

"O.K, fair enough, but there is no way, unless…"

Chromus smiled. "The less said about it the better. However, the rules state that contestants who are banned for AS can't come here right?"

Chromus walked away, eyeing up Donnie's booth with an evil grin.

"That doesn't mean we can't go to them…right?"

Raye started to ponder the pieces together, as she gasped.

"That is not fair…."

Then she smiled as well.

"…then again, 40% cut isn't bad."

* * * *

It was expected, and he didn't care.

O.K, so he got the crap kicked out of him by Kelly (and as she was going to collect Mina, she and Jayson were having an argument of course, Jayse: 'You don't hurt the contestants!' Kel: 'He's not a contestant now is he?'), but Kouji Minamoto didn't care less whether he stayed there or not.

Still, he did wonder…

"Well, 12 days more that expected…" Takuya smirked towards Kouji.

Kouji ignored the leader of Frontier, but was surprised that not just he, but Zoe, and J.P. were there as well.

"Hey, you may not have been the favourite there, but we were still rooting for you nonetheless." Zoe said.

"Didn't bother me." Kouji said.

"So what was life like there?" Tommy asked.

Kouji shrugged. "Boring. Except for that ghost girl of course…"

"Great, be the life of the party why don't you?" J.P sighed.

Kouji shook his head, and decided to go get something to eat. However, he was surprised that his teammates were following him.

And for a brief second, you could have seen Kouji smile.

Of course, Takuya ruined it…slightly…

"Well, something interesting did happen at least here…" Takuya said as Kouji stopped.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing much. Apart from…well…Tommy's trying to kill everybody…." Takuya said in a bit of embarrassment.

Kouji sighed. "Again?"

* * * *

O.K, a few points.

New plots: The fake Star, Globie (DotD) and Blackstar is JusSonic's idea, but I guess this can be added more throughout the story. I added a little scene of my own on that, for comic relief, but this is a plot I do like, so if anyone else wants to comment and add to it, I don't see what the problem is. 

Current plots then still remain about Jayse vs. Kel, girls vs. boys, Donnie vs. Team Conspiracy (oh, and yes Tom is coming back, look the doors), plus plots such as Persona's are still to be ironed out.

As well as other new plots including Tamers vs. Frontier, especially the .hack/Sign like plot involving Tommy (although big props for getting Lain involved as well Arp) and Little Serenity and the havoc she leads. This should bring in some more ideas then.

O.K, until next time!

****


	3. Side Stories 3

****

Side Stories 3

Disclaimer: All the authors and readers that appear in this side story own themselves. Original characters that appear belong to their respective creators. Any nods and refs mentioned over the course of this document belong to their original sources.

Author's Notes: This should bring everything up to date. In a small way, the delay of the crossover ep may have been a blessing.

Thanks to the usual suspects, which include DotD, Donald Marco, Joe Mello, Star Otaku, Adam Pulver, AMZ, YamatoLee, JusSonic, Digifan, Artful, Fetch, littlekitty, and anyone else I forgot.

* * * *

****

DAY 13

Kelly was not pleased. 

Why you may ask?

Simple. Something hadn't gone her way.

"WHY ARE YOU BRINGING THIS 'GUY' HERE TO HELP OUT? I SAY IT'S AUTHOR RIGHTS BEING USED TOO MUCH!" Kelly screamed.

Chromus however stared a hole through the girl which made her whimper slightly.

"Before you accuse me of anything, here are the facts."

Chromus lift a finger up. "Fact one, you made the O.K for Tom 'Baka' Greenville to come to work with Donald." Chromus didn't say a word of the counter threat with Raye he was planning but…

"Yes, but he's human!" Kelly said.

"An author created human I might add. Anyway, point 2…you pretty much made me force Ichino out of the hotel last night…and considering Akari might me coming here in a few nights time, that isn't good for my blood…"

"What can I say? J.P filed complainted about character cruelty!" Kelly defended herself.

"So why wasn't Amara restrained…plus the amount of time Keitaro and company have been bashed…even if it is with good reason…"

"That girl…Ichino…she isn't even a part of the survivor game! Her show isn't here, and the person you've requested isn't from an anime…" Kelly was grasping with as long a straw as she could find…

"…so? You've got Kingdom Hearts characters, Golden Sun, Yu Yu Hakusho, but no Ichino. Plus, I heard you brought in a kid from the Yu-Gi-Oh Movie as well, can you say the words 'Completely unfair? "

…sadly, Chromus cut them quickly enough.

"Well, I er…"

"Plus, as you said, no, he's not in the anime…but he's from the Ranma ½ manga, so I suggest that's at least one half fair, if you forgive the pun."

Kelly was running out of ammo.

"And final point. Even after doing this, you STILL haven't sent for Casey's family!" Chromus did not like incompetence, and even though this might add to the male vs. female debate, it was pretty much on the lines of 'Like I give a damn' now.

Without waiting for Kelly to make a reply, Chromus continued. "So, I've decided that with the obvious female dominance in the kitchen, and as much as I tried to get those Ichiban fellows to help, they wanted a vacation, so they got it. So…Konatsu-chan?"

The pretty (male) chef from Ranma ½ came nervously from behind Chromus, and bowed to both him and to Kelly, Kelly a bit disgusted with the cross-dresser, but the last time she said that to one, Nuriko nearly threw her into a wall.

"Thank you very much! I would be honoured to help!" Konatsu said.

"Of course. And now you're here, that makes two of us hoping for Ukyo's victory." Chromus smiled. "O.K, let's get you sorted out…"

As Chromus and Konatsu left, Kelly was fuming.

"Life's a bitch when it doesn't work against you doesn't it Kel?" Jayson snickered from his hiding place.

Kelly said something which can't be said here, because we have young kids walking around the places. (Although Kasumi said 'Oh my, what not nice language!' if that helps)

"I guess you didn't get to beat up Kouji much, and your power helped get Mina before me…once again." Jayson smiled. "So how you going to ruin the next ep?"

Kelly snickered. "Well, next ep…I'll go again. Then we'll have another guest h.."

"I knew it."

Kelly looked up. "Huh?"

"You are doing this to annoy me. Get a host after every ep you're on to make it longer before I get on. Well, you're wrong. I just received a phone call from the boss…and he and Chromus made a deal beforehand to bring Chromus' 'Animole' show to the Moon Kingdom. It's episode 6…and guess what? I'm the guest host for Animole whilst Chromus is the guest host for AS6…oh well, too bad, sucks to be you, yadda yadda…"

Kelly was steamed. For the boss calling him, for the fact that the person she just argued with had a guest host spot, and the fact that she didn't get a chance to rub the superiority off Jayson's face.

Jayson left, Kelly fumed. The two…hanging by a thread of dignity.

However, Konatsu, being a male, and entering an annoyed Chi-chi for not being informed, was probably the biggest scare of the day…

* * * *

"Cheers!" Tom said to Jim, Sam and Donald as the four Quad-R members were back together, doing their thing as they always did.

"Are you sure it's O.K to spend our money like this?" Jim asked.

"Of course! Whilst we may not agree with it, Tom is one of us, and we've finally got together to do business our way…" Sam said.

"…and the glorious fact that Miss Clemens has been a successful team leader for the past 6 days! Continue on young electabuzz…although Pikachu still rules more…" Tom said.

His three companion facefaulted, but smiled. Their business was still strong, despite a few payouts for Kouji, their takings from Une and Michelle had removed that problem. 

Life couldn't get much better…

* * * *

In the restaurant, JusSonic, Digi-Fan and Fetch are talking about what happened recently.  
  
"So long will this stupid war go," asked Fetch.  
  
"Ah, it is so lame. You don't see me kicking girls' butts just to prove I am better. And I should know because Digi-Fan here is a girl." JusSonic answer.  
  
"That and I got a wand." Digi-Fan reminded him.  
  
"True, true." JusSonic remembered.  
  
"So did you challenged Washu to open the portal that brought those evil versions of Globie, Star, and Blackstar?" asked Digi-Fan as if she is accusing him.  
  
"Nah. All I did was call him a dimwit and insult her. She was only trying to prove she is a genius and now, she got dopes to handle." JusSonic chuckled.  
  
Indeed, the others knew JusSonic had a grudge against the genius of Tenchi Muyo since the last AS, but JusSonic tries to ignore her annoyiness of saying she is a genius. But those thoughts are interrupted as a portal opens in the restaurant.  
  
"What the..." Henry said seeing this. "Did Washu opened another portal???"  
  
A person comes out of the portal. He looks familiar. He sees the author.  
  
"Excuse me, did you see three villains in here?" asked the person.  
  
"You're the only weird person here, buddy." answer Fetch. "But if you mean the evil versions, then yes."  
  
"Good. My name is Alan." The person introduced himself.  
  
Takato screamed. "AAAHHH!! RUN BEFORE HE DESTROYED US ALL!"  
  
"Alan" sigh, knowing this would happen. "I expected him to do that."  
  
"Why is that?" asked JusSonic.  
  
"In this world, I am a villain, yes?"  
  
"Well...of course! You must be a good version of Alan from that other world! I should know, me and the Histerians have experiences with the evil versions." JusSonic said, remembering the time with the Evil Histerians.  
  
"Well, I better go before those villains, Globie, Otaku, and Blackstar get the things they need to come back to my world and take it over. And I do mean the evil versions." Alan said.  
  
He left, to the stunned of others. Then they go back to what they were doing.  
  
"Well, it is now his problem, not ours." remarked Fetch.

* * * *  
  
"TAMAHOME!!!" Zoe kept running until she found the Suzaku warrior. Then she jumped into his arms.  
  
"I see some people are taking advantage of Miaka's absence," noted Nuriko, who was standing beside Tama-chan.  
  
"What's wrong?" Tamahome looked down at Zoe.  
  
"Tommy's trying to kill me!" Zoe looked back to find the still-possessed child staring back at her.  
  
"I will defeat you Karin!" Tommy stood there with a martial arts pose. He was ready for battle.  
  
Nuriko took Zoe into safety as Tamahome prepared himself to fight.  
  
It took awhile for either of the two to start.  
  
Tommy seemed to snap out of his trance. "Hey! Brock! Could you help us out?"  
  
Brock was casually walking down the hall. He saw the two, ready for battle. He knew what to do.  
  
"Ready? Fight!" It was on.   
  
The two clashed in an epic battle. Tamahome connected first, sending Tommy reeling back. Then Tommy attacked with surprising strength... sending Tamahome reeling back. This continued on and on for about a minute, with neither side gaining anything. Until Tommy summoned a ki blast that whisked down the hallway. Tamahome, among others, were down for the count.   
  
"Uh... Tommy wins..." Brock was in shock. He didn't realize digi-destined could summon that kind of force.  
  
Zoe peeled herself off of Nuriko. Both were caught in the blast. She saw Tommy bowing at her.  
  
"And you're next Karin!" He snarled back.  
  
* * * *  


It wasn't strange at all to see authors working out among the most powerful of anime. A few authors would step in from their way between the hot spring and the locker rooms and stop to check out the odd light spar between Ranma and Gohan, or spot Jackie lifting weights.

So it wasn't at all strange to see them co-exist in such a place without competitive spirits getting too high.

Well, it was when there was the normally mild Star Otaku practicing a few blows to the air with her lunch bag.

Chromus and Artful observed her as she was being cutely vicious... much like the bunny rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail...

Artful nodded his head. "Ah... what do you call this technique of yours, dear?"

"Yeah, Star-chan! It looks strangely familiar..."

She stopped and let her arms drop to her sides. She turned to them and smiled. "It's the Anything Goes Anti-Hentai Martial Arts!"

"And they said that fighting anime wasn't wordy enough..." Chris remarked sarcastically.

"I think it's time I used it a little more than I'd like, what with-"

"GOOOOOMEEEEEEN NEEEEE!" cried Keitaro as he was sent hurtling over their heads. Mark that as hot spring incident # 538...

"-that happening more and more around here," Star continued, without missing a beat.

Artful and Chromus shook their heads in pity for the poor boy. It wasn't like he did it on purpose, though they did wonder how one boy could have so much bad luck.

Suddenly, Ryoga was sent in the same trajectory as Keitaro was. His extended wail said something about looking for the cafeteria...

And they wondered no more.

Following Ryoga was an angry mob of quickly dressed women from the hot spring, with Naru being the ring-leader, naturally.

"Perverted males! All of you!!!" And in a blind fury, Naru sent a punch flying... in the general direction of Chromus.

"Why me..." the big Brit muttered.

But thankfully, quick reflexes blocked the Naru-punch. Naru's flesh collided with the material of Star's lunch bag.

The small girl looked up at the fiery Hinatasou resident, frowning. "Miss Narusegawa... You should watch where you aim. You might hurt someone you wouldn't intend to hurt..."

A little shocked at seeing her attack effortlessly blocked, Naru shook her hand first then snapped out of it. "And why should I?!"

"Because these two gentlemen are my friends, and I can vouch for them that their intentions are good..." She looked to see Ryoga and Keitaro picking themselves out of a section of wall. "And those two boys just got into accidents, so there's no need to brutalize them!"

Naru looked at the authoress in disbelief. "How can you be so naive?"

A groggy Keitaro managed to make his way to the mob, maybe he was being suicidal, but he was going try and apologize to them. Unfortunately, he slipped on an errantly misplaced wet towel and slid towards Star! As his unfortunate fate decreed, Keitaro collided with Star, and they fell together onto the floor, and ended up in a compromising position.

Naru was enraged at Keitaro's misplaced hands on the girl's body, and wound up another rocket fueled Naru-kick.

Artful was seething that the boy was on his girlfriend, though he knew it was an accident, he was still angry. Credit it to irrational male possessiveness and jealousy.

And Chromus was beginning to regret having his Angerspace sealed.

"Hah!" the petite authoress cried as her bag slammed into Keitaro's chin, sending him... Standing upright?!

The angry girl's kick sailed into the space where Keitaro used to be, and she tripped backwards.

All were shocked... The ronin wasn't sent flying into a wall, or into another deadly female situation? He was hit by a girl only to be brought back to his feet unscathed?

"Wha...?" Naru muttered.

Star picked herself up, then looked down at her and shook her head. "Anything Goes Anti-Hentai Martial Arts. I've been perfecting the technique for a while. If he truly was a hentai, he'd be in for a world of hurt and frequent flier miles. But if it were a genuine accident, he'd be sent back a short, and I mean short, distance, relatively unhurt and probably just a little dazed. Sempai, can you please help demonstrate?"

Artful looked at her, reluctantly moving.

"Please, sempai?" She turned on the doe eyes.

He sighed. "The things I do in the name of cute girls and science..." Artful stood beside her and asked, "What shall I do?"

"I want you to do something ecchi, but tasteful, in this public forum."

"Right." Cracking his knuckles and working the cricks out of his neck, he was ready. "Here goes..." And he planted a hand on her chest.

Star wound up her bag arm and was ready to go in for the kill. She struck him square in the jaw... which didn't affect him at all.

Everyone looked at her, sweatdropping.

Star looked confused, and Art still had his hand on her chest.

"Oh yeah! There's one draw back to this: It doesn't work against your true love!"

And everyone facefaulted en masse.

* * * *

****

DAY 14

  
It was supposed to be just another ordinary day at the Floating Hotel's cafe and restaurant, the main feed bag of the entire AS 5 residence for administration, characters, entourage and authors/reader cameos...but then again, when you're talking Anime Survivor, normal is just another six-letter word that means, well, nothing.  
  
The two elder members of the Chuuka Ichiban crew, Shel (the burly Frenchman) and Lei-On (the former Dark Culinary League hitman) were sitting at one of the windowside tables, having what was supposed to be their first made-for-them Chinese lunch. While Meirii and the others were off somewhere having already finished their meal, the two elder crew members decided on a later lunch after a dip in the hotel's artificial hot spring.   
  
"I'm hoping this should be good...I've always wondered how Chinese cuisine would evolve past our time." Shel began.  
  
"For all of China's sake, I hope it hasn't been taken over by the Dark Culinary League." Lei-On replied.  
  
One of the waiters, Konatsu, came out from the kitchen, holding a steaming pot smelling of a rich salted fish. He meekly placed it onto the table for Shel and Lei-On, and opened the lid for them, to reveal a bubbling concoction of eggplant and a spicy sauce. "Your salted fish and eggplant hot pot, sirs." He meekly replied, and tried to slink away.  
  
"Hold on a minute, young man." Lei-On ordered him.  
  
"Y...yes?" Konatsu replied.   
  
"How come you are so afraid of us?"   
  
"Um...well, customers first!"   
  
Lei-On wasn't impressed. He had known how the women have been trying to bully some of the men, and the beating incident after a couple Immunity Challenges won by the Tai Yang Pai at the theatre didn't escape his eye. But this by far had gone beyond too far. Meanwhile, Shel had dug into the pot, and tasted the eggplant...and promptly spat it back out.  
  
"Ugh! What is this? This doesn't taste natural at all! It's filled with...ugh!" Shel spat, trying to rince out his mouth with tea.  
  
Lei-On then proceeded to take a taste, and his reaction was almost the same. After taking one bite of the pot, he promptly covered it back up with a lid, and handed it back to poor Konatsu, who was already terrified of what had happened to Shel.  
  
"Young man, please take this back to the kitchen and tell your head chef to come and see us." Lei-On ordered gently yet strongly.  
  
Ukyo's right hand cross-dresser quickly complied, and a few minutes later a scream and a pot crashing to the floor was heard followed by the matriarch of AS feedbags, Chi Chi, stormed out from the kitchen in quite a huff, with Konatsu pulling at her apron strings in an attempt to calm her down.   
  
"So, you don't like my cooking, huh?" Chi Chi snapped at the two gentlemen, who remained calm.   
  
"Madam, no offense, but the hot pot tasted like dog's crap!" Shel gagged. "Ah Tsing would never cook this pile of dog s*it for us to eat!"  
  
Chi Chi was clearly offended, as the room raised a couple degrees in temperature. "So you're calling our cooking crap, is it? Typical of you ignorant men." She snapped.   
  
This raised Shel to his feet, holding onto his heavy metal staff in battle position. "Is that a challenge you are offering, madam? A cooking contest to see which gender can cook the best dishes?" He ordered.  
  
The matriarch was clearly caught offguard by this new change. "F...fine! Name your ingredient and we'll have a one-five-five battle. One theme ingredient, five cooks, five dishes."  
  
Lei-On was now quite interested. He wanted to see how these 21st century cooks would fare against their old-style Chinese cooking, without all of the classic razmatazz and doohickeys. It would be a classic wok and steamer vs. rice cookers and blenders.  
  
"Okay, we'll offer up tofu. This will be a cinch, since Ah Tsing will naturally be on our side."   
  
"Um...Shel, you do realize that Ah Tsing is still in the game, and..."  
  
"Yeah, but still, we can take them, with or without Ah Tsing!"   
  
"And where are we going to find five cooks?"  
  
Of course, an argument of this magnitude always attracts some sort of a crowd, as indeed one has gathered around them all, and were looking on with some interest. In fact, the entire restaurant's staff and clientele had gathered around the commotion.  
  
"Will three brave gentlemen step forward to bring glory to old-style cooking?" Shel declared to the crowd.  
  
"Okay, ladies, rally around! Let's show these ignorant men what cooking's really about!" Chi Chi shouted.  
  
At first, only women began to congregate around their leader, as Lita, Shinobu and Kasumi quickly took to Chi Chi's side. However, the men remained quite alone...until...  
  
"I...I'll help." Konatsu meekly volunteered.  
  
"Excellent! Here is one boy...albeit dressed as a woman...who is brave enough to help us! Or are the rest of you men cowards?" Lei-On declared.  
  
Just then, Tenkawa wandered out of the kitchen, having heard Lei-On's cries, went through the crowds and took their side, much to the dismay of Chi Chi and the rest of the female cooking staff. "Tenkawa! You traitor!" Lita cried.   
  
"Don't expect me to give you a good word ever again, young man!" Chi Chi added.  
  
"He does not need your good word, you wench." Shel laughed back. "Here is one more man who is willing to take on the cause for old-style cooking! Will there be one more?"  
  
Of course, here comes Brock...having wandered in hearing about a battle, he (literally) floats into the scene, and takes Chi Chi's hand. "I'll take your side any day, ladies..." He cooed. "I'll help you win this battle..."  
  
Of course, this shocks the men's side, much to the pleasure of the women. Shel looked at Brock with disdain. "Coward. Cozying up to the women to curry their favour."   
  
Chi Chi smiled back. "So, are you ready to call it quits?"  
  
"Not on your life!" A voice added.  
  
Another figure walked into the room, revealing the tall, slender and blonde Amarah. She immediately walked over to the side of the men, much to the women's shocked and surprised looks. "  
  
"Looks like this woman has seen the light!" Shel gloated.   
  
"And we've got one of yours!" Chi Chi replied.  
  
Just then, from out of nowhere, Kelly jumped into the fray. "THEN, IT'S AGREED! IT WILL BE A ONE-FIVE-FIVE IRON CHEF COOKING BATTLE! THE MEN VS. THE WOMEN IN A CLASSIC TOFU BATTLE!" She shouted, with a voice the cross of Mr. Referee and the funky Iron Chef dubbed voice.   
  
"And just to make this battle impartial, I'll be commentating with her!" Jayson added, also jumping out from nowhere...and landing right on top of Kelly.  
  
"In a week, we will gather here at the cafe to decide which gender is truly the real cooks of this world!" Kelly declared, shoving Jayson off her back. "And  
  
Shel and Chi Chi glared at each other, both sides with fire in their eyes. "We'll teach you some real home cooking, that's for sure." Chi Chi snarled.  
  
"Bring it on." Shel replied, as the room heated up another couple degrees...and it will only get hotter.   
  
* * * *

  
"So, how do you think Tristan is holding up?" asked Yugi as he, Joey, Téa, and Mai walked across the hotel lobby.

"I'd say his chance are pretty good," said Joey.

"Tristan can hold his own," said Mai, "Unlike that Kouji kid."

Just then, a young boy with long turquoise hair no taller than Yugi (if just maybe a slightly bit shorter) ran into the spiky-haired Duelist.

"Sorry!" said the boy.

"That's okay," said Yugi. As he helped the boy up, he recognized him immediately. "Shago?!"

"Yugi?" Shago looked up and into the face of his old friend, "Yugi! It's you!"

"Shago! I haven't seen you since that tournament Kaiba held when he took my Puzzle!" said Yugi, clearly overjoyed.

"Who's the kid?" asked Mai.

"That's Shago, a kid from Yugi's neighbourhood. He used to get teased a lot because he wasn't a very good Duelist. But now, he's one of the best ever," explained Joey.

"Joey! Téa! It's good to see you again," said Shago.

"So Shago, how are you feeling?" asked Joey.

"I'm in the mood for a duel," answered Shago, "I've been dueling a lot ever since you and Yugi helped me gain the confidence I needed."

"Then why don't I take you on?" Joey volunteered.

"Hmph. The kid could probably beat you hands-down, Joey," said Kaiba, who was sitting not far away.

"Grr! I'LL SHOW YOU!" shouted Joey before turning back to Shago, "Let's duel, Shago!" He held up his arm and his Duel Disk activated.

"You can borrow my Duel Disk," said Yugi as he handed his over to Shago.

"Thanks, Yugi," said Shago. He strapped the device to his arm and inserted his deck into the card reader. The Duel Disk unfolded and the holographic image projectors were deployed.

"Let's duel!" said both Duelists.

****

20 minutes later…

****

Joey's LP: 450 // **Shago's LP:** 550

"It's your move now, Shago!" Yugi called.

Shago slowly drew his next card and looked at it. Upon seeing it, his face lit up. It was his favorite card.

"Joey, I now sacrifice Ansatsu and Kuriboh to bring out my favorite monster!" announced the young Duelist as he slipped his two monsters into the Graveyard and placed his new monster onto the field, "The Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" The card appeared on the battlefield and from it emerged Shago's rarest creature of all.

"I haven't seen a Red-Eyes in a long time," said Joey.

As Shago looked up at the creature, he remember some words that had been said to him the day he got his Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

The Blue-Eyes Dragon will bring victory. However, what the Red-Eyes Dragon brings is not victory, but potential. 

However, this is only for the one who has the courage to duel.

Those words stuck with Shago ever since he saw Yugi duel Kaiba. AS he looked in his hand, he came up with an idea. It was the same tactic he had seen Yugi use to defeat Kaiba.

"And now I'll play Polymerization!" announced Shago. His Magic card appeared on the field and glowed brightly. 

"And I'll use it to fuse my Red-Eyes Black Dragon with the Meteor Dragon in my hand!" The latter monster 

appeared on the field and the two dragons converged on each other and fused into one creature.

__

It's that monster again! thought Kaiba as he remembered the one monster that was able to destroy his triple Blue-Eyes and Chain of Wickedness combo.

"The BLACK METEOR DRAGON!" announced Shago. His newly formed monster rose into the air and fired its attack down on Joey's Thousand Dragon, destroying it and wiping out the rest of the blond Duelist's Life Points.

****

Joey's LP: 0 // **Shago's LP:** 550

"I can't believe I lost!" shouted Joey in disbelief.

"I can't believe how much Shago's improved," said Yugi as he walked up to his old friend, "That was a great duel, Shago."

"Thanks, Yugi," said Shago.

"We should get together some time and catch up on things," said Téa.

"Hey Shago, why don't you join us later for lunch?" asked Yugi.

"Sounds good," answered Shago as he returned Yugi his Duel Disk and placed his cards back in his deck protector and returned them to his pocket.

* * * *

"Looks like the dog got whipped…" Kaiba smirked before heading out.

"I AM NOT A…" Joey exclaimed.

For some reason, Fetch passed by, Excel was chasing Menchi, Videl was feeding her dad's dog, Eien began shaking water over Faye and Spike and although technically not a dog, Ryo-Ohki was playing hide and seek with Sasami.

O.K, that didn't really happen…but Joey felt like it did…

"Gah…I wish there was some way…"

Suddenly, he noticed a small crowd outside what appeared to be a tent. It was bright red, it symbolised an aura that Joey was surprised at, and on the outside, there was a large flashy sign.

"RAYE'S PSYCHIC HANDLING! PREDICTIONS OF ANIME SURVIVOR! FIRST SESSION FREE!"

Joey was intrigued at least, especially as he saw a few authors AND anime characters head in the direction of the tent. The word 'free' obviously tempted them…and Joey decided to go for temptation. At least he could hide his face after losing two duels coming here…

Inside, was pretty much what you expect from a Miko's seance. A circle of blue fire (not too dissimilar to the Black Luster Ritual) was around the priestess girl, as Joey noted.

And she was quite cute to boot as Joey hid a goofy smile under his face. Almost like that Mina girl…

Also there were Tasuki, Genma, Soun, Ryuji, Ryoko and Ryoko, plus a few authors and cameos were there, namely Digifan, Ash Lillymon and a now discharged Persona, obviously trying to limit his destruction intake for the time being.

"What's going on?" Joey asked as Raye opened her eyes from the meditative stance she was in and smiled.

"This is Rei's Psychic Handling. I am going to predict the next eviction of Anime Survivor. As you know, yesterday, the tribes swapped. This could bring in new ideas and the stars have predicted many changes…plus if I'm correct, you could be very wealthy." She smiled.

A few sweatdropped (although most were sweating from the heat) as Tasuki spoke. "Well, I like a little gamble every now and again, but what if you're prediction is wrong?"

"Then take it up with Chromus. He'll guarantee you'll get your money back if my prediction is wrong, out of his purse…"

(Outside the tent, Chromus prayed the mole was helping him with his cheques)

"…so you've got nothing to lose."

It was obvious that people weren't completely convinced, but they let the Scout of Mars continue her work. In reality, the setting was all for show, and for Raye's comfort.

Just under her crystal ball desk was a piece of paper with the words 'ROGER SMITH' underneath.

"O.K…sun, moon, earth, stars…sun, moon, earth, stars…" Rei went into her chant and her eyes snapped open.

"The next eviction is…"

* * * *

"So, you're going to try it Tendo?" Genma asked.

"If there is nothing to lose Saotome, then why not? The Tendo Dojo needs to make any chance of making ends meet…" Soun said.

"Then…can you lend me 5 yen?" Genma said, to Tendo's disgust.

"Ah…why not? I'm not doing anything else at this popiscle stand, and the last time I did bet, it was on Miaka and Tama-chan's bruises are still showing…"

Whilst a few of them were still not too convinced, a majority had decided to see if Raye's words came true, and headed for Donnie's betting booth. Outside the tent, Raye wiped off a bit of sweat.

"Will any others turn up?" Raye asked.

Chromus shook his head. "Start off small, and when more people win, word will spread out, and more people will flock. More people means more destruction for poor Donnie…the ultimate revenge!" Chromus laughed an evil laugh (because he felt he deserved one…)

Raye sweatdropped. "Are you part of the Heart Snatchers?"

* * * *

It was a bit weird for Donnie now that the whole gang was here, but after the old switcheraoo, he needs to change the odds slightly. Kiyone, once the favourite to go, now had a lifeline away from Casey and Jade. Although Seiya wasn't helping any trust with the Yueh Liang, he was now the favourite to go for that tribe, with pretty much any of the guys in trouble for Tai Pang.

Suddenly, a few people came in, not too many to worry about. Just Tasuki from Fushigi Yugi, those two cheapskates from Ranma and also Digifan, who lost last time.

And Persona…

"Need some money to repair the nightclub…your room…or your mind?" Jim asked.

Persona grumbled. 'Might as well give it a shot…'

"5 bucks on Roger. What's his odds?"

"Ah, let's see…Roger is joint favourite with Tristan at 5-1, and as immunity hasn't happened yet…

"Whatever, here ya go."

Donnie smiled. Another 'satisfied' customer. Which was why he was surprised when all the others began to bet on Roger. Of course, nothing major as very little money by the Ranma group, although Tasuki had bet 3 silver pieces which translated into about $15, and Digifan went with three English pounds.

Again, not too bad, as Seiya had practically been the one betted on throughout. But if either of those two went, with only the odd bet on Kiyone, Mutsumi, Miaka and Onizuka…the rainbow may not be so clear…

* * * *

****

DAY 15

"Yahoo! Twice in a row for semi-Captain Casey!"  
  
One would expect that cheer to be from a member of Casey's family. They'd be half right. It came from Pokemon Reporter Tom Greenville, who had already payed for and brought a round of drinks to the Clemens' and was now carrying a bunch of sodas to a table where Ash and Misty were sitting. Brock was supposed to be with them, but he was, again, chasing skirts.  
  
*BOOM*  
  
One had to wonder if Brock was going for the girls themselves, or for the Nurse Joys in the infirmary.  
  
"Hail, to thee, Captain, and most gracious First Mate."  
  
With Misty in the classic "Secretly Denying it with extreme prejudice" scowl, Tom immediately held up his free hand. "Hey, you wouldn't hurt a guy with glasses, would you? Especially since they're yours." He indicated the drinks on the tray he brought from the bar.  
  
"I probably would... but at least I'll wait for them to be emptied." replied the young redhead female who then took the glass that Tom offered her.  
  
"And here, oh most glorious Captain, is thine Chalise."  
  
"Uh... thanks." Ash was a bit apprehensious. He was half expecting Tom to have bought the sweetest tasting liquer that, while tasting very good, would have Ash out like a light or else doing something... untoward. And with Misty in the room, depending on what he did, he'd either end up in the infirmary, or, well... let's not go 'there' with these guys.  
  
To Ash's surprise, it was just plain simple draft Root Beer on the rocks. Ash had to admit, Tom may have worshipped Ash as though he were a Celebi, but at least Tom didn't want to make Ash do something humuorously stupid. Or... well, if we don't go 'there' with Misty, they we CERTAINLY won't go 'there' with anyone else.  
  
"So, how about that Electabuzz?" Tom asked as he took Brock's former seat. By the looks of things, he wouldn't be back tonight.  
  
Normally, when that question was asked of a person not owning that particular Pokemon, it was in reference to the baseball team. But in this case, it meant the girl who was almost as much a fan of that team as Tom was of Ash.  
  
"Well…she's got a legacy to uphold with our performances but…" Ash said.

"…she's doing great!" Misty smiled.  
  
"How about we raise a toast!" suddenly exclaimed Tom, as he rose and lifted his drink.  
  
Unfortunately, while Ash and Misty didn't have any alcohol, Tom apparently did, because he didn't have the best control of his glass...  
  
Before Tom could get down to grovel, Misty was sending him to the infirmary via infamous "Mallet Express".  
  
What made things worse was that Tom's drink hit, let's say, a strategic spot. And also while Misty was quite flat for the first couple of years, and hasn't grown much in that area recently... any progress is obvious when it is first observed. Though it's apparent only through a shirt splashed with liquid. Then again, it's apparent even to a 13-year old Pokemon trainer. As evidenced by the slight drop of blood from Ash's nose.  
  
"What are you staring at!?"  
  
"Uh..." Ash immediatly covered his nostril. "Nothing," he replied hoping to avoid the wrath of Misty's Mallet.  
  
He got the smaller Croquet mallet instead, and was merely knocked into dreamland, where he would likely dream of one of two things. Being a Pokemon Master... or well... maybe for once he would dream of going 'there'. Or perhaps both. Misty dragged him back to his room with her left hand; her right holding her larger mallet ready to send any perverts to join Tom.  
  


* * * *

Zoe sat in the hospital waiting room. She didn't want it to come to this, but she no longer had a choice.  
  
Nurse Joy walked out. Zoe stood up.  
  
"Is he going to be okay?"  
  
"Oh, Tommy will be fine. He just got knocked out, that's all. You can see him if you wish."  
  
"Thank you." Nurse Joy walked away as Zoe turned. "Thanks Gohan."  
  
Gohan smiled, "It's no problem, but you could have told me I'd have to go Super-Saiyan to knock him out."  
  
Zoe headed to Tommy's room, where he was just starting to come to.  
  
"Hey there Tommy... looks like you got your head handed to you."  
  
Tommy's eyes flashed open. He looked at Zoe.   
  
"Paula!"   
  
"Paula?"  
  
Tommy jumped out of the bed and pulled another invisible weapon from out of nowhere. He held it like a baseball bat. "Come on Paula, we have to save the world!"   
  
He ran out of the room. Zoe was right behind him. She had to keep tabs on him. At least in whatever he was hallucinating this time she was an ally.  
  
However, it soon became clear that Takuya and J.P. weren't.  
  
"Ah! The enemy surprised us!"   
  
"Um... we just heard Gohan sent you to the hospital. What happened?" Takuya asked.  
  
"Paula- Use PK Freeze!"  
  
"Are you talking to me?" Zoe asked.  
  
"Do something Paula! They're going to attack us! Use your frying pan."  
  
Zoe was still confused. But she didn't want to incur Tommy's wrath again. She shrugged, then clobbered Takuya with a frying pan she pulled out of mallet space.  
  
J.P. quickly backed off after that.  
  
Tommy and Zoe continued their journey through the hotel grounds, looking for the enemy so they can save the world. They were still looking when they found Ash and Brock chatting it up. Brock immediately stood up upon seeing Tommy.  
  
"Out of my way!" Tommy held his weapon at Brock. Brock put his arms up.  
  
"Don't hurt me Tommy!"   
  
Ash stood up. "What's going on!"  
  
"That's kid's scary. He took out Tamahome!"  
  
"And now I need to fight you! The fate of the world depends on it!" Tommy yelled.  
  
"Well, if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get. Pikachu!" Ash called out for his yellow rodent.   
  
Pikachu jumped in front of Ash and hissed at Tommy, "Pika..."  
  
"I guess I'll do this again. Ready? Go!" Brock yelled.  
  
Pikachu started out with a quick thundershock, which clearly hit Tommy but didn't seem to affect him much. Then Tommy dove after Pikachu stupidly. Pikachu jumped up, and summoned a thunderbolt. Again, it hit Tommy, but didn't affect him much.   
  
Tommy got up and summoned his own attack. "PK FLASH!!"   
  
He raised his hands up and flashing light rose to the air. When they reached Pikachu, they exploded in spectacular green flash. Pikachu was dazed, and knocked back.  
  
"The match is mine now!" Tommy flicked his wrist. Pikachu somehow was knocked backwards, even though it was lying five feet away. Tommy whirled his arm around until resting it at its side.  
  
"PK Fire!" Another bolt of energy from out of nowhere. Tommy set a few plants on fire, but Pikachu's agility got him out of there in time.   
  
Pikachu landed in front of Tommy and charged an attack, "Pi... ka..."  
  
Tommy responded by swinging his arms around like he was holding a baseball bat.  
  
SMAAAASH! Pikachu was airborne, and signed off with the trademark Team Rocket "ding!"   
  
"Pikachu!" While Ash ran after his poor mouse, Brock quietly backed away again. Zoe attempted to approach Tommy, but he was too busy waving and flashing peace signs to notice.

* * * *

"That's right Yoshikawa! Onizuka is still in it…although his strategy is what I don't expect from him…never mind, I'm sure he'll do well…hey, he promise to treat us all to lunch if he won…"

Ryuji chuckled. Even if he did win, Onizuka was Onizuka. A che…

Azusa Fuyutsuki put down the phone and sighed. It was nice to get the time off from Holy Forest Academy, and whilst Onizuka's ways on the island have been a bit more disturbing than she expected from him, strategy was what was needed to win these games, so she hoped that was the case for Eikichi Onizuka, and not…

"O.K, O.K! Meeting in session!"

Both GTO representatives turned to see what appeared to be a flock full of anime women, lead by Chi-Chi, but there were plenty others as well to say the least…and it appeared they were having a private meeting. Curious, Azusa went over to see what was going on.

"O.K, the meeting is now in session! We are now here to discuss who is safe from us, and who needs to be sent out of here as quickly as possible!" Chi-chi said.

"Get rid of them all!" Naru shouted.

"Now Miss Narusegawa, that isn't the case. You said that Miss Otaku developed a martial arts technique for judging who is right and who is wrong, correct?" Chi-Chi asked.

"Er…hai?" Naru said.

"And you also mentioned that your boyfriend…"

"HE'S NOT MY…"

"Yes, we've heard it before. Basically, your _friend_ was found innocent of all charges, and despite seeming like a perverted lech, he actually has been cleared of all charges on account of being simply a clumsy fool." Chi-chi said. Naru blushed, but quickly got back.

"O.K, we'll get back to that in a second, but the next item on the inquest is the cook-off. Now, those two Ichiban fellows along with three others have challenge 5 ladies…" Chi-chi thought for a second. "…O.K, 4 ladies and one pervert who just happens to be a good cook…hey, I'll let exceptions ride for now…"

Mass sweatdropping.

"…versus 4 guys and 1 lady…how the heck did that happen Lita?" Chi-chi asked her second in command.

"Gimme a break, Amara pretty does her own thing…" Lita said.

"And then that traitor Tenkawa and that new weirdo go over to their side, absolutely prepostrous, to go against myself, Lita, Brock, Shinobu and Kasumi. I mean, why, we accepted them, we praised them, we…"

"Um…" Shinobu timidly put her hand up.

"Yes Shinobu-dear?" Chi-chi asked.

"…you…er…well, you were scaring Konatsu as soon as he came in…" Shinobu said.

Chi-chi fumed as Kasumi said an 'Oh my', but calmed down. "Never mind. All we can say is that us women are going to cream the men!" Chi-chi said.

"Bravo sister!" said a new voice from the back.

Kelly Silversmith.

"That was wonderful…and the perfect way to shut up the guys, especially that ignorant SOB Jayson!" Kelly said.

Chi-chi shrugged and went back to her original point, and trying to see if they can get Miss Otaku to learn the Anti-Hentai style (Akane in particular) and Kelly hid an evil grin.

"…and I've got the perfect way to do it…"

* * * *

"Why are those two bringing so much angst?" YamatoLee asked JusSonic.

"Relegated…" Chromus said.

"Defeated…" DigiFan said.

"Oh, just some soccer/football problems." Jayson Gold helpfully added. "But I gotta drag his carcass to the island now so…"

In a scene not too disimilar for Pokemon fans, Jayson dragged the poor fan out of there, as Kelly fumed from the sidelines.

"Trust me…you'll get yours…"

* * * *

Fetch was perfectly content... until he heard it.  
  
"Pokéball... GO!"  
  
He muttered, "Why do they always shout first?"  
  
In a flash, he transformed into his Growlithe form. He turned towards the  
direction of the shout and delivered a flamethrower attack at the perpetrator.  
  
Tommy just barely dodged out of the way in time. He consulted his left palm.  
"The Pokédex says this could be a tough one." He reached for his belt and pulled  
out air. He held his imaginary pokéball up and allowed it to grow to full size.  
  
"Fortunately... I know just what to use." He threw, "Kumamon! I choose you!!"  
  
One spirit evolution later, Kumamon was standing in place of Tommy.  
  
"Kumamon! Use Ice Blast!!" Kumamon shouted. Since he was giving orders to  
himself, obeying wasn't a problem. He sent his Crystal Freeze attack in Fetch's  
direction.  
  
Fetch was caught off guard, and was frozen solid.  
  
Kumamon quickly turned back into Tommy, who once again held and threw thin air.  
  
"Pokéball... GO!!"  
  
Fetch was awfully concerned that nothing was heading his way... especially when  
that nothing fired a tractor beam and sucked him into a the cramped conditions  
of a Pokéball. He fell to the ground. Despite his best efforts to get out of the  
invisible prison, he couldn't.  
  
"Alright!! I caught Fetch!" Tommy spun around and flashed a peace sign. However,  
when he walked up to claim him, Fetch disappeared.  
  
Then littlekitty started bouncing on his head.  
  
"What... did... you... do... to... him?!"  
  
"Ow... ow... ow... ow... Hey! A Mew!" Tommy spun around and grabbed another  
"pokéball" from his belt. "Ready to go KoriKakumon?"  
  
Before he could go after her, she telleported away.  
  
Tommy was down, but not out, "Aw... well I'll still be a master someday!"  
  
  
littlekitty teleported away to a safe place, where she kept Fetch levitated  
above her palm. He was clearly uncomfortable.  
  
"This is weird. How can this be possible? It's a Pokéball... but I can't see  
it!"  
  
She grabbed it, and freed Fetch. This was getting beyond unusual.  


* * * *

Roger Smith, living in the year 2099, Paradigm City, Criminal Negotiator, involved in the race to activate Big O.

And 5th eliminated from Anime Survivor 5.

It was just not his day.

He sighed as Mina returned from the hotel with him. Sure, he should have been happy being with a beautiful girl, but three beautiful girls had helped kick him out of the game, along with that rat Onizuka. He hoped that Tristan could somehow survive.

What was not a surprise was Dorothy being there, although being melancholy as usual.

What was a surprise was 4 kids with her smiling.

"Dorothy, who are the kids?" Roger asked.

Dorothy shrugged. "Just some kids supporting you. I don't know why but…"

"We're sorry Roger!" Takato said.

"Trust me, I know the feeling of going early, it sucks…" Henry added.

"At least you beat that Frontier idiot…" Rika added.

"It's been a bit scary with that Tommy around now hasn't it?" Jeri said.

Roger shrugged. He didn't know who they were, but at least he had some support. The crime-fighting millionaire smiled and put a hand on Takato and Henry's shoulder.

"Thank you. Come on, let's get some lunch…some real food…make sure Ah Tsing didn't hear me say that…" he chuckled slightly as one ladie's man, 4 Tamers and an android almost indistinguishable from real humans who may hold the secret to humankind's amnesia headed out for lunch.

* * * *

Jim was waiting for Donald when the latter arrived to input the new odds into the computer.  
  
"Rough Night?" asked the Co-host turned Guest-Host.  
  
"Not really. The devil's still in the details, though. Tristan and Seiya are up the creek without a canoe, though it seems to me that only Uyko and Jade are truely safe. Miaka and Goten somewhat so."  
  
"You mean Onizuka doesn't hold a majority?"  
  
"It's tenious at best. The girls could pull the rug out from under him at any moment if they realize their power. And Kiyone seems the type to take charge."  
  
"These switches are the pits, though."  
  
"Yeah. But what are you going to do. I couldn't predict how the balls would pop out."  
  
"Nope, you couldn't..." Jim trailed off.  
  
"Something wrong?"  
  
"Just looking at the profit figures. We had more people than I would think vote for Roger on Day 15."  
  
"Hm... I don't know, Jim. His faction WAS in hot water."  
  
"Yes. But Tristan was in that faction too. You'd think that a more popular show would have higher visibility."  
  
"OR a higher fanbase, which would vote otherwise."  
  
"Yeah, but in this activity, visibility is supposed to hurt more than it helps."  
  
Jim had a point, Donald had to admit. But it was only a reduced profit level. It didn't seem dangerous. Yet.

* * * *

****

DAY 16

Yamato Lee snuck back into his hotel room sometime after midnight, praying his roommates didn't wake up. Reaching up into one corner that had a good view of the door, and another section of wall with a view of the bathroom, he planted what he came in for, and got out.

An hour after Lee's last visit, a hooded man slipped into Yamato Lee's hotel room, grumbling to himself. A pale green glow emanated from his hands, spreading to envelop the 3 sleepers and leaving the walls tinted a slight green. His hood slipping down a bit to uncover his face, Yamato Lee left.

A tall figure wearing the strange combination of a trench coat and a large cloak paused on the top floor, looking down into Persona's nightclub. It was too early to have any customers, but there was that peculiar man relaxing behind the bar. The figure decided that passing where the man might see it was worth the risk. Scowling beneath its cloak, it faded to a shadow and slunk past the bartender. On the other side, it continued on to the twelfth floor, avoiding all contact. As it approached its destination, it felt a powerful ward, a very specific one… one directed at it. "He got here first." The figure hissed, its voice sounding pleasant despite its frustration. "Well, there _are_ other ways…" The figure slipped deeper into the hotel.

* * * *

The three authors, JusSonic (Histeria! author), Digi-Fan (new honorary H! author) and Fetch are walking around the place. JusSonic is on his cellphone as usual.  
  
"Okay, when you get to the convention, do me a favor and try to stay out of problem?" JusSonic listens in, he rolls his eyes. "Well, the same to you, Sammy!"  
  
JusSonic then hangs up.  
  
"You know what?" beginned Fetch.  
  
"What?" JusSonic answered.  
  
"I wondered how you and Digi-Fan are here while you two are on that bus trip to that convention right now." Fetch said puzzled.  
  
"I don't know. I also don't know how Ash can be in the Mole: The Anime Edition and Anime Survivor at the same time. It's a mystery." Digi-Fan remarked.  
  
"Huh. I got to give arpulver a call." mumbled JusSonic. "Well, it could be better or worse. They could get lost again and this time ended up in a town with foul-mouthed puppets and screwy celebrities."  
  
"True." Digi-Fan said.  
  
"So anyway, it is true you are considering making a survivor of your own?" Fetch asked JusSonic.  
  
"Yep. It is sorta of continuum to arpulver's Animation Survivors, except it is not really canon, it is called Cartoon Survivor, and the AA isn't involved. And good thing too, I never liked that son of a guns." JusSonic said, remembering what happened in Grim Reality.  
  
"So who's the co-hosts?"  
  
"We haven't started yet or who knows when it would start, but it's safe to say that me, Digi-Fan, and my friend Robert is the hosts of this one." explained JusSonic further.  
  
"That would sound pretty cool." Fetch said.  
  
"Thanks." reply Digi-Fan.  
  
Just then, security ran past them.  
  
"Whoa! What's going down?" asked Fetch.  
  
"Better check." said Digi-Fan.  
  
The three followed the security and the room they entered is a mess. It is the storage room and it is a mess. Security are cleaning it up. Some Anime characters are there.  
  
"What's going on?" JusSonic asked.  
  
"The storage room has been broken into." Ash yelled over the noise.  
  
"What's been taken?" asked Fetch.  
  
"Spirit cards, dark balls, you know those kind of items that would make villains powerful." explained Naru.  
  
"You don't think the evil versions are doing this, do you?" JusSonic asked Digi-Fan.  
  
"Nah. They got their buttes handed to them when they try to cause trouble the last time. Besides, the good Alan is looking for them right now." Digi-Fan remarked.  
  
"Good what?" asked Uncle. "Is this an invasion of universal proportions?!"  
  
"Hey, relax there, guy. You need to lay your feet down. Those dogs are barking." JusSonic said.  
  
"WHAT?!" Everyone in the room said shocked and confused.  
  
"Sorry. I don't know why I just said that." said JusSonic embarrassed.

* * * *

It was another normal day in the hotel, with the normal things going on. Blackstar was wandering the hotel, while the Adepts were in his room, doing various things. Isaac and Garet were having a sword fight, Ivan was reading a book, and Mia was busy combing her hair in front of a mirror. 

"Y'know, I think we need to ask Blackstar to send us back to Weyard. We've already spent enough time here, and already asked too much of Blackstar..." Ivan said while closing his book. Isaac and Garet stopped their sword fight to look at him.

"Well, you have a point..." Garet started before being cut off by his friend.

"Ivan, you do have a point. We DO need to get back to our world, but you've heard Blackstar. Time is virtually stopped on Weyard while we are in this world. But hey, look at the bright side, we have tons of training time while we are here." The two immediately started going at it again, more furiously than before.

Ivan sighed. "I guess you're right."

Mia decided to speak up. "Hey, guys, do you know where Blackstar went? We need to catch up to him!" 

"He went down to the cafeteria to get something to eat! He said he'll wait down there for us!" Ivan yelled back over the noise of the sword fight.

"Alright, I'll be done soon!"

Blackstar was heading down the hallways, all the way down to the cafeteria. It was quite a pleasant few weeks, as he got his cameo done sooner then he thought...Even if it did take some of his power, the challenge was actually pretty entertaining to watch.

The god was almost near the end of the hallway when...

"KEITARO! YOU STUPID PERVERT!"

"I'M SORRY!"

*KABOOM*

The sound of someone being launched in the air was heard throughout the entire hotel, and no one minded.

Blackstar ignored it and continued down the hallway, when he noticed another figure walking towards the way he came from.

Naru was walking in a huff, oblivious to everything around her. "Stupid pervert...How dare he see me undress!" She continued walking towards the stairs, still oblivious to everything...Including that fold in the carpet.

Her foot got caught in it, and with a gasp, she tripped, with her arms outstretched to soften her fall.

She didn't hit ground though...

She opened her eyes in surprise...

And then saw a man right in front of her...

With her hands grabbing onto that certain area...

"Uh...I-I'm sorry?" She said while a huge blush crept across her face.

Blackstar twitched.

*Thwack!*

*Swish!*

*Slash!*

*Smack!*

*BOOM!*

Naru was sent flying into the opposite wall, leaving a Naru-shaped hole inside the wall...With her in it.

This time, some people couldn't ignore it. Blackstar went downstairs before anyone can get up there. 

Shinobu ran up, and gasped in shock in seeing Naru imprinted in the wall. "Oh my gosh! Naru-sempai, what happened?!" 

Naru fell out of the wall with swirly eyes. "Oh mommy, can you please get me the 5 Liddo-kun dolls flying around my head?"

Shinobu sweatdropped.

* * * *

"…I still don't understand why you did it…" Lita complained to Amara.

"Simple. I don't wish to live by stereotypes. That Junpei fellow found out the hard way…" Amara smiled as Michelle tried hard not to laugh.

"…but…"

"Don't you have a man with your team?" Amara questioned.

Lita shrugged. She'd hardly call Brock a man compared to her old sempai, what the heck Mina saw him him…or that Joey for that matter…but then again…

"It just seems…" Lita asked. 

Suddenly Ami came up to them along with Fushigi Yugi's Mitsukake. Despite being from different times and worlds, the two had struck a repor with each other with their skills in medical training (or in Mitsukake's case, healing)…

…that, and Ami had that quality which attracted anyone to her.

"Hello there!" Ami said, unaware of what had gone on in the past few days, it had been a busy night when Akane had tried some of Miss Otaku's fighting style…

"Ami! Haven't seen you in a while…been busy?" Michelle asked her fellow maiden of the water.

"Yes…I've come to return a book to Mr Marco, do you know where he is?" Ami asked.

"The booth I presume. That Tom is back as well, but they seemed a bit less happy than before…weird…" Amara said with interest.

* * * *

Joey Wheeler was Angry.   
  
And I mean Angry.   
  
Even more Angry than would usually be accredited to the hot-tempered duelist.   
  
And I don't mean the "you wrecked my bike" kind of angry. I mean the "you spit upon and trampled all over my little sister" kind of Angry.  
  
Joey Wheeler was Angry.  
  
The reason for his anger?  
  
His so-called best bud Tristan was lusting after another girl.  
  
The problem with that?  
  
He was already bonding with Joey's sister Serenity. And while Joey joked that he'd never let Tristan and Serenity sit on the same sideline of a dueling arena, even he'd have to admit that the two were fast friends. It would take him a while... a LONG while... before he could accept even the outside chance that Tristan could be his Brother-in-Law, but at least the thought of it didn't make him vomit anymore.  
  
But, if ANYONE, even his other best bud Yugi, the most powerful duelist in the world in more ways than one, ever betrayed Serenity, then that person would make a sworn enemy of Joey Wheeler.  
  
And Tristan was skirting that line.  
  
At the least, Tristan had to be taught a lesson.  
  
Unfortunately for Joey, right now Tristan was in a place where Joey couldn't reach out and strangle him.  
  
But then Joey remembered that there was a betting booth where you could try to predict who would be voted off. He headed in that direction... and litterally bumped into Raye Hino.  
  
Raye had been informed that Chris' 'outside help' had agreed for this deed. Although the person in question was not a dishonest person, she needed an excuse to use her talents to the upmost ability, and not be kept in a coup with…

"OUCH!"

Joey got up, and recognised the girl as Raye Hino, that 'psychic' from the other night. Now, he had his doubts, considering his dealing with 'psychics' like Mai Valentine and of course, Maximillion Pegasus. However, the girl did get the Roger guy right, although Joey didn't have a bet himself.

"Hey, watch it!" Raye screamed, rubbing her head. Joey blushed slightly but shook his head.

"I'm sorry miss…I was a bit lost in thought…" Joey helped the Sailor Scout up. 

"Yes, I could sense that." It was true, Joey's aura could have been easily detective by the shrine maiden. Still, Raye wasn't a full fledge psychic and couldn't read the boy's thoughts, so the only thing she could do was…

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Joey sighed. He hated having his feelings built in. He was on the verge of tears when Mai found him collapsed after 'losing' his card that Yugi gave him. And Raye was a more kinder (unless you're Serena) figure than Mai.

It wouldn't hurt to spill his guts a little.  
  
"Sorry. It's just that..." Joey choked slightly.  
  
"Just that what?"  
  
"It's just that..." Joey then looked directly at the Shinto Priestess and even a normal person could see both the flames and the tears in his eyes. "…my soon-to-be ex-best bud is looking lecherously at one of the other contestants... while he's supposed to be chasing after my sister! I want to make him pay for even THINKING about betraying my sister in that way!"  


Raye was struck by the emotion from this poor boy. From what she had heard about the girls/boys problems on the hotel, she didn't know what to say to him. However, despite how he appeared, Joey was a decent human being. And Raye couldn't stop to see him in despair. Raye herself had her own problems in the past and the current about being love, not just with Darien, but with Chad as well.

Raye sighed, and put a comforting hand on the duelists' shoulder.

  
"It's okay to be angry. But it isn't okay to ... ."  
  
"Well I can't hurt him from here, can I. But I can bet against him. And dat's what I'm gonna do." He turned to march off.  
  
Raye looked at him for a second. But right now, her mind was not on how to resolve his problem... it was on the next phase of the plan. She had just received her information that Miaka was the next one to be voted off and... [

__

"Wait a second. Isn't Miaka the one this Tristan fellow prefers out of the contestants?

Raye put two and two together. Doing a good deed…and helping get revenge for Michelle. 

Easy decision.

"Joey, wait!"  
  
Joey stopped. "Yeah?"  
  
"Listen. What I'm about to say may sound strange. Especially coming from someone like me. But maybe you shouldn't curse your friend. Rather, curse his temptation, so that it may not be there anymore."  
  
"Uh..." Joey wasn't the most insightful person in the world. "Ya kinda lost me there."  
  
Raye sighed. She'd have to tell it straight out. "Look. Whatever you'd bet on Tristan, bet on the girl who he's set his sights on."  
  
"Miaka, right?"   
  
Raye nodded. As she did, a thought came to Joey. "Hey... you were the one who predicted Roger would be  
goin down. Does dat mean..."   
  
In response, Raye gave only a slight smile. Which sent Joey running to the betting booth.  
  
And, as she faintly heard Joey delcare an amount of currency equal to $20 on Miaka, she smiled slightly, that she could redirect a person's destructive energy into something positive. "Ammount of currency? Man! He would've destroyed himself in his rage. But now he'll really help my boss' cause…."  


As Raye continued past, doing a good dead, she was stopped again, but this time by a much happier person.

"Well done miss! Thank you very much miss!" Genma Saotome said to the Mars scout. Raye smiled slightly.

"That's O.K…" Raye started.

"So, tell me miss, who is your next prediction? I've brought a few others telling them about…"

Actually, Genma only told two people, one was Soun, and the other was a girl that had been scared of him in panda form…fortunately, that was Mihoshi, a bigger blabbermouth you would never meet again.

Raye was stunned to see a list of people consisting of Vash, Persona, Soun, Mihoshi, Ryoko (Tenchi), Kitsune, Tasuki, Tamahome, Ryuji, Leena, Jessie, James, J.P, Digifan, Ash Lillymon, Duo, Nabiki and Mai heading towards the shrine maiden.

'This is going to please Chromus…" Raye thought, and quickly happy with her cut coming up.

"This will be an introductory offer of 1 dollar to come to my shrine…or whatever equivilent you may have. If my prediction is incorrect, you will get your money back. Understand?"

A few moaned about the money, but realised it was a no-lose situation. A long queue headed towards Raye's tent, for her latest séance. 

And somewhere, on the Moon Kingdom, an evil genius in disguise smiled.

* * * *

****

DAY 17

The inclusion of the Animole team had brought an interesting spark of conversation in the team, as people recognised old favourites and friends.

Chichiri and Tasuki waved Chiriko flags (and Tasuki ready to tease Chiriko's relationship with Rika) _no da_. 

Ash, Brock and Misty realised trouble was afoot when Duplica and Giselle were there.

Takato, Henry and Rika were amazed seeing the two adventures (and again, the Frontier kids seemed disgusted…if Tommy wasn't still causing havoc…)

Keitaro was amazed Haitani was still there…(and nearly passed out when Mutsumi kissed him), of course, Motoko and Naru had a quiet word with him (although Naru was surprisingly subdued)

But the biggest surprise was the end of the night…

"What the he…" Kelly said as a smart-ass Jayson came…with 10 people with him.

"It's for one night, and they are taking Chromus' room. It's a suite so there is plenty of room. Besides, they needed someplace to stay…not a problem is it?" Jayson said.

"I TELL YOU IT IS! WHO GAVE PERM…! Kelly started…but got swamped when a number of the people, both anime and human tried to see who went.

And when Giselle was nowhere to be seen, Misty cackled evilly.

"Ah Chiriko! So you managed to foil an evil scheme! Good work…" Tasuki said and then smiled. "And who is this?"

Chiriko, embarrassed, was still holding Rika's hand. Fortunately, the CCS girl introduced herself well enough.

"I'm Rika Sasaki. Nice to meet you." Rika bowed.

"My my, a polite young lady…completely different to you eh Tasuki-chan?" Nuriko said to the bandit.

"And completely different to you as well Nuriko!" Tasuki said, but Nuriko did the Yukino evil look and Tasuki wisely backed off.

Brock on the other hand…

"It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance Miss Kanzaki! My name is Br…" A glint of an evil Chi-chi's eyes made Brock stop before Misty could drag him away.

"Er…thanks…" Akari sweatdropped.

"Brock…where's that girl who was with my son…" Chi-chi asked, as Brock pointed her in the direction of Duplica (and then resumed trying to flirt with Akari…and then Misty pulled him away). 

"…so glad she's gone, hopefully peace can…huh?" Duplica's conversation with Naoko was stopped as Chi-chi bent down and hugged her.

"THANK YOU FOR RESTORING MY SON'S SANITY!!!" 

Mass sweatdropping.

"Hello there, I hear you're from the Nadesico in the future!" said a smiling Akito Tenkawa.

Haley was very nervous with Akito. Unknown to Tenkawa, he was the 'Prince Of Darkness' and also Ruri's one time guardian before he and Yurika had been reported dead along with Inez-san. Of course, it turned out to be a protection conspiracy by Nergal, but the fact that Tenkawa in a few years would change so much…

"Er…y-yes! Haley Mabiki….please to meet you!" Haley said bowing to Tenkawa.

"Hey, no need to be so formal…let's get you some lunch…Tenkawa style ramen!" Akito said as Haley was dragged to the kitchen.

"First Roger, and now these guys…what do they have that we don't?!" Takuya and Zoe pretty much said in unison as the Tamers were talking to Ken and Yolei, the two adventurers.

Naoko and Kensuke, along with Akari and Rika began talking to anyone and everyone, whilst Haitani went searching for Keitaro.

And all of this as Kelly was trampled underneath.

"I'll…get…you…for…this…Jayson…"

Ash had a question to ask though…

"If you're all here, where's Giselle?"

* * * *

Tom had got the 'honour' of getting Giselle to the tunnel where she came through. 

The feeling wasn't mutual of course.  
  
"Man, I'm actually glad to see you, Giselle."  
  
"And what do you mean by that, Mr. Greenville?" A hint of threat evident in her voice.  
  
And guys like Tom... don't know how to take hints. "If it was Duplica, I wouldn't know whether to hate her or feel bad about her leaving. At least with you, I could just despise you without..." He never got to finish, as a Right Hook in an already sensative head area KOed Tom and sent him to the infirmary for the second time in about forty-eight hours.  
  
Then again, consdering the perverts and leechers, Tom got off relatively easily, and would be released the next afternoon.  
  
Off in the distance, Jayson was contemplating who was worse, Giselle... or Kelly. Thankfully, he set some distance from the former. 

"JAYSON!"

Of course, he HAD to bump into the latter.

* * * *

Peace and quiet was sparse in the Surivor Hotel, but for Jamie Hemeros, the lobby was quite fine for him. The young tactician had quite enough of his teammates harrassing him (in case Bit or Harry wasn't around) so he made sure that he got out of the hotel room often. At this point, he was reading peacefully as the world passed by him. 

Unfortunately, one part of that world, currently known as Leena, decided not to pass.

"What'cha doing, Jamie? Hm?" The Gunsniper pilot quieried pesteringly.

Jamie moved to his side, away from the redhead. "Go away. I'm reading."

"Reading? What?"

"None of your business. Now go away."

Leena was playfully suspicious. "Ooooooh. Are you reading something your not supposed too?"

Jamie fired back. "Don't try and pull that on me, Leena. I know what you've been keeping under your bed."

A vein popped on the femme fighter's forehead. "You know, you shouldn't be nosing around in the room of a lady."

"Hey, _I_ have to be the one that picks up after you, and besides, the only lady I've seen around the base is Naomi."

That did it. Even though Planet Zi may have been light years away, you still didn't mention Naomi Fleugel around Leena unless it was either accompanied by an insult about her or it was just dropping a name. The two pieces hanging from Leena's head magically raised up in anger. "You little punk!" she exclaimed. "That's it!" A short tussle ensued as Leena tried to snatch the book from Jamie's clutches. The young pilot managed to evade his teammate quite well, but in the end, Leena was able to claim the book with an emphatic "Yoink!" The victor then examined the pages of the manga she had purloined. "Ooooooooooooh," she said with that naughty tone. "Fushigi Yuugi #1."

She glanced over at Jamie who was smiling, but blushing under the eyes. "What can I say? I think Miaka's kind of cute."

"Uh-oh," Leena called out teasingly. "Jamie's got a girlfriend." (At which point, all fans of a Jaime/Pierce grouping formed an angry mob.)

Jamie darkened a little. "Well, she is on the island and all." He lightened up a bit and added, "But I'm sure if Tamahome wasn't an issue, there wouldn't be a problem."

Oh, but there was a problem. See, just as fate would have it, a certain Suzaku passed by the two Zoid pilots as they exchanged their dialogs, and the mentioning of his removal made for an upset Tamahome. He raced over and grabbed Jamie by the collar. "YOU TRYING TO MOVE IN ON MY GIRL?!!" the enraged Tama-san bellowed. "I'M ALREADY LOOKING TO ADD TRISTAN TO THE GRAVEYARD…BUT YOU WILL BE A NICE APPETISER…"

Jamie looked for help from Leena, but she wasn't going to give any. Nervously, he replied "Uh, no sir. I was just . . . admiring her from a distance."

"Well, it looks like that distance needs to be WIDENED!" With that, Tamahome picked up Jamie and sent him flying down a long dead end hallway head-first.

Big mistake. You never want to send the schizophrenic Jamie Hemeros flying. Almost in an instant, something in Jaime, kind of like a switch, turned on, and his mood changed instantly from a shy young boy, to that of a badass Zoid pilot. "Jamie" executed a double somersault and was able to plant his feet on the back wall. He then lunged back and did another 3/4 flip with a 1½ twist and stuck the landing.

Tamahome was agape, but Leena knew what happened. "Uh-oh," she said in a kawai childlike tone. "Ya shouldnta gawn n done that, Mr. Tamahome."

Tama-san finally managed to get some words out. "How did?! . . . what the?! . . . Who are you?!"

The cocky young pilot just put his hands in his pockets and spoke with a voice that sounded totally different from the Jamie that they heard eariler. "If you wanna know, . . . they call me . . . The Wild Eagle." He went up to Tamahome as if this was a scene from _Trigun_. As he passed, he added quietly, "You don't wanna mess with the King of the Sky, now do you?" With that, he calmly exited.

Tamahome was still waiting to find out what happened. Leena just left, following the Wild Eagle.

Eventually, Chiriko came. As the voice of reason, he asked a still stupefied Suzaku, "What are doing just standing here, Tama-san?"

Tamahome snapped out of his little daze. "Oh, sorry. I don't know. Just some weirdos from another anime trying to hit on Miaka."

"That always seems to be the case, doesn't it?" Tamahome sweatdropped. "You know," the young Suzaku continued, "you really should stop overreacting to every little comment about Miaka. She is kind of important around here."

Tamahome just shook his head. "You just don't get it. Well, I guess you'll learn when you get older."

"This isn't about love, is it?"

"Heh heh." Tamahome escorted the Animole contestant out of the lobby. 

"Oh…I think I'm starting to learn…"

* * * *

****

DAY 18

It has been five days after the challenge gauntlet was thrown down between Shel and Chi Chi, as both sides were rallying their troops in preparation for the big competition in less than two days. A wave of fresh ingredients have been coming via a FedEx rocket (courtesy of NASA), as both sides prepared their best menus for the judges to taste. Of course, the most important ingredient, the tofu shipment, would be the very last, as the finest handmade tofu from Hong Kong had to be imported first from the territory itself, then loaded onto a rocket at Cape Canaveral before arriving at the hotel.  
  
To keep watch of the shipments, was none other than Kelly. As the crates of the soft bean product came through the airlock, Kelly got a nasty idea...she scanned the two crates, each marked with the teams' names...the Old-stylers, led by the men, and the New Cooks, led by the women. Of course, she made a beeline to the old-styler's crates, and wheeled it off to the nearest service elevator.  
  
"Let's see you men win your stinking competition with this!" She laughed, as she pressed a button for the hot springs floor. Once there, she found no one there, and promptly dumped the crate into the hot boiling water. After 10 minutes, when the crate finally bobbled up from the bottom, Kelly pulled out the soaking wet crate, placed it back onto the dolly, and returned it to its original place.   
  
"No one will suspect that I've tampered with it....but just for insurance..." She smiled, pulling out a large bag of salt, and pouring it into one of the crate's open gaps. When the salt began to overflow, she chucked away the empty bag, rewrapped the crate in its original FedEx packaging, and walked off.  
  
However, this did not go unnoticed...  
  
"That Kelly...the lengths she will go to show me or any man up. What a bitch..." He grumbled, promptly switcing the labels on the two crates, so that the opposite package would go to the men.   
  
Just as Jayson left, Shel appeared. "Well, it's about time the tofu arrived...better get it into the icebox before it spoils." He grunted, as he picked up the heavy crate onto his burly shoulders, and walked off.   
  
"Hey, are you stealing our tofu?" Lita snapped, as she also appeared as he prepared to leave.   
  
"Your tofu, ladies, is over there." He replied, pointing to the other crate.  
  
Shooting Shel a dirty look, Lita wheeled the crate into the kitchen, not knowing what surprise was about to await them when they would finally reveal the crate's contents...  
  
"OH NO! THE TOFU! IT'S BEEN RUINED! WHO COULD HAVE DONE THIS?"  
  
The battle continues...

* * * *

Miaka Yuki, priestess of Suzaku, the 6th victim of Anime Survivor 5.

She sighed. She made a mistake, and paid for it. Still, she lasted much longer than I think she expected.

"At least I'll get a good meal now…" Miaka said to the returning GH.

"No worries about Miaka-chan…" Chromus said and then smiled. "It seems you've got company…"

Miaka looked ahead. And they were all there…(minus Chiriko).

Hotohori, kind, gentle emperor of the Konan empire. Nuriko, the brawn of the team, a bit weird, but faithful friend. Chichiri, the fox-eyed sorceror, with his trademark mask and smile. Tasuki, a cocky fanged smile with his diamond fan ready as always. Mitsukake, gentle soul and healer of the team, despite his massive size.

And of course…

"TAMAHOME!"

Miaka leapt into her boyfriend's arms, as Tamahome in a small way was glad she was back. Considering what people have been talking about on and off the island with her, it was kind of a relief.

"Miaka…I've missed you so much."

"We all have." Hotohori said as Nuriko smiled. 

"Welcome back Miaka…we're all proud of you." The she-man said.

"Everyone…thank you…"

Of course, one person had to ruin it.

"Well, Miaka, I'm surprised you got that far without inhaling the teams supply of fish and rice! BWA HA!" Tasuki said.

"Oh Tasuki-chan…" Nuriko said.

"Yep?"

Nuriko held out a sign in English. "Can you read this?"

"DELICACY."

"Exactly." And Nuriko's bracelets glowed. "TRY TO REMEMBER WHAT IT MEANS!"

Cue more repairs to the hotel as Tasuki was blasting off.

"Nuriko…no fair! I wanted to kill him!" Tamahome complained.

"Oh, you still can no da! Apparently Tasuki betted on Miaka to be the next off no da…." Chichiri said…but it wasn't Tama's aura that was powering up.

It was Miaka's.

"GUYS…I DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE THIS…" Miaka glowed angrily and headed in the general direction of Tasuki's aerial body.

The members of Suzaku sweatdropped as they heard the words "MIAKA LARIAT…HIP ATTACK…BACK DROP…SPLASH MOUNTAIN 95!" each accompanied by a bandit's scream.

Tamahome facefaulted. "Sometimes I wonder if she is the strongest…"

* * * *

Joey was pleased.  
  
As pleased as punch.  
  
As pleased as the round of "punch" he was buying for everyone at the bar with some of the proceeds of his bet on Miaka. Many were toasting the latest victory of the Guys, while a small knot of others were toasting the victory of Casey's faction at Council.  
  
The money didn't really matter, although it was a nice bonus.  
  
The key thing was... Tristan's 'failsafe' was out.  
  
The possibility that Tristan could cheat on Serenity was still there, especially after seeing his words about that Giselle and Akari, but at least he had been denied his primary choice.  
  
Joey was pleased.  
  
However, when he saw the victim of the recent vote come in along with a rather large fellow and that sort of sad happiness that comes with being with a true friend after an ordeal, Joey was not so pleased.  
  
Joey felt guilty.  
  
Sure, Tristan had to be taught a lesson that you don't think about trying to cheat on Serenity Wheeler and expect to get away with it... but seeing others suffer in the administering of the lesson didn't sit well with Joey Wheeler. He went up to the couple.  
  
"Hey. Sorry ya lost back there."  


Miaka looked at the boy at the bar and smiled slightly.

'It's all right. I made one big mistake. But I'm back with my friends now.'

Joey decided that wasn't enough.  
  
"Will you be all right?"  
  
Miaka gave a bigger smile and squeezed the arm of the man she was with.

'As long as Tamahome is here, I'll be Ok.'

Joey sighed. He felt rotten, but the least he could do was to give the girl an appreciation of the winnings he won of her. (Not like he'd tell her that)  
  
"Well, let me buy you two a drink."  
  
"Thank you," said Tamahome. "That is most generous of you."  
  
"Hey, no Prob!" Joey replied as he hunted down a waiter and arranged their drink orders.  
  
'I hope that Big Guy doesn't figure out I bet against his girl.' Thought Joey as he made a discrete exit from the bar. 'Still, it's nice to see that Tristan wouldn't have gotten anywhere with her. Big Guy would've made sure of that. Tristan will still have to reckon with me, but I MIGHT go easy on him. THIS time.' His net profit from the bet? A couple of drinks, and a small amount to possibly use on another bet.  
  
* * * *

Donald couldn't believe it.  
  
Over the course of the past two days, a large number of people bet on Miaka to go down.  
  
Sure, Miaka was middle-of-the... aw... who was he kidding? She had the 4th most outside chance of being voted off. Of course, he didn't think the tribes would switch back, but even then, the lot would fall on Casey, Jade, or Kiyone. (Nevermind the fact the first two had as high of odds as Miaka.)  
  
Except for her homesickness, Miaka was almost as under-the-radar as Ukyo, who was the outside pick. So it seemed illogical that so many people would bid on Miaka.  
  
But bid they did... and now Donald was in the Red on a session for the first time since Anime Survior 3.  
  
That thought recalled the Ruri-chan scandal of AS3. Which recalled Chromus' involvement. Which recalled Chromus' request back on Day 4 to be a part of the action.  
  
Could Chromus have a hand in this evolving gambling scandal? Or even worse yet... could he, and not Ruri have been the TRUE mastermind of the Ruri-chan scandal?  
  
It couldn't be. Could it?  
  
One thing was for sure.  
  
Donald had to get to the bottom of this. And Fast.  


* * * *

A hard days angling seemed to have had it's rewards for Raye Hino.

Personally, revenge for the way Michelle was treated.

Professionally, publicity for the Hino Shrine and a 60% cut. And with the better success, the higher the price.

But for now, it was a nice long soak.

In ways, it was nice to be on her own. Her friends had different lives here, Amy with her skills as a doctor, Lita with the whole cooking things she's been going through, Mina being a guest host and Serena…well, being Serena. 

And away from her peeking grandfather as well, although a slight twinge of regret that she didn't invite Chad came across her, she dismissed it as Serena would have teased her to hell and back.

She stepped out of the bath and began towelling off. She wore the towel back into her room, not realising that she wasn't alone.  
  
"This is definitely not the right place," one of them said.   
  
There were three intruders. Raye recognized two of them- it was Henry and his friend Takato. The third she didn't know. She couldn't get a glimpse of his face since it was buried in a camera lens.   
  
Instinctually, Raye screamed. The three turned around. Raye's anger intensified, especially since she was not only in the presence of perverts, but one of them was videotaping her half-naked.  
  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?!"  
  
She didn't bother listening to Takato's reply. Instead, she chased them out of the room. Takato and Henry were quick on their feet and ran while the camera operator waited for the two to exit the room. He tried to go after them, but was knocked aside by Raye.   
  
Raye continued to run after them- they had to pay. The chase continued down the hallway, as several unassuming guests were knocked over in the process. Unfortunately, before she could destroy either Takato and Henry, they vanished into thin air.  
  
"Huh?" She stopped and looked around. They were nowhere in sight.   
  
Raye turned back towards one of the patrons in the hallway. Akito Tenkawa was on the ground, but had noticed the incident. "Was that a... Boson Jump?"  
  
"They. Die." Raye didn't care what it was. All she knew was that Takato and Henry were both going to experience true hell the next day.   
  
She was willing to wait a night. It was late, and she was tired after watching Tribal Council in the lounge with all the masses, her forecasting career hanging in the balance.  
  
And besides- she still had one poor schmuck to take care of.  
  
The videographer had set his camera down, so Raye could get a better look at what she was about to kill- his blond hair almost reminded her of Akito Hayama. That was enough of a red light in itself, even if this particular pervert was much older than Hayama.  
  
The marked target pulled out a cell phone and attempted to connect.  
  
"Jerry? Jerry?? C'mon, don't tell me you've got your phone turned off..."  
  
It didn't matter. Raye snatched the phone out of his hand, threw it to the ground, and smashed it to pieces with her slippered feet.  
  
The camera guy looked up at her, "What was that for?" He raised an eyebrow in realization. "Aren't you Raye Hino?"  
  
Indeed it was, and he was properly introduced... to her right hook.   
  
With one of the three perverts plastered against the wall and the other two marked for annihilation the next day, Raye went back into her room to call it a night.   
  
"So... Takato and Henry are perverts..." Takuya was another witness to the incident. He turned to Koji, "I think this can be useful."  
  
"For what?" Koji reached down and picked up the camera. It was a professional camcorder- not something any average consumer that wasn't named Madison would use. On the side was a red and yellow insignia.   
  
"Well, those Tamers think they're so high-and-mighty. But I guess they're nothing but a bunch of perverts. I think we can use this to our advantage, don't you?"  
  
"I've seen enough gross perversion in the last few days to know that it should be punished." Koji turned back to Takuya. "But I think you just want to raise random chaos." He smiled, "Great- count me in.'   
  
Takuya took Koji's shoulder and let him down the hallway. "Okay, first we have to..."  
  
As they walked down the hallway, the camera guy peeled himself off the wall. He did a quick status check. His camera was fine and the footage was intact. The only problem was that his cell phone was not only unable to make a connection... it was merely a stain on the carpet.  
  
A. R. Pulver sighed, "This is why I never ran camera for the AA..."   


* * * *  


Author's notes 2;

A nice enjoyable ride with a few plots and twists coming together, plus some madness thrown in just to help. (Sorry, Excel Saga's fault…)

The bit with the soccer joke is just a small joke between myself and Digifan , that only us two will probably get. No worry, just someone to put my depression about this season into words. ^_^

Anyway, hopefully, more ideas and scenes will head into the dreaded merge. And hopefully, the choices will narrow down as the weeks go forth. Who will win? Wait and see.


	4. Side Stories 4

Side Stories 4

Disclaimer: All the authors and readers that appear in this side story own themselves. Original characters that appear belong to their respective creators. Any nods and refs mentioned over the course of this document belong to their original sources.

This is the longest SS so far, and considering it's only 2 days, that's saying something.

Finally, Little Serenity and Freedom Fighter enter the scene! But aside from them, thank you JusSonic, Star Otaku, Arpulver, Descendant of the Dragon, Joe Mello, Persona, Digi-fan, Anime Master Zero,

DAY 19

* * * *

JusSonic was up early, roaming the lobby for any sign of the evil trio... or any other evil alternates from another dimension.

"Oh..." He spotted a candidate lying on the couch. He was dressed in his clothes and had a camcorder at his feet.

JusSonic nudged him until the suspect woke up and stood back, ready for anything.

"Damn, why do they always have to depart at 3:00 AM?" A. R. Pulver sighed.

"Who are you?!" JusSonic demanded.

Arp started to get his bearings back. He also recalled the events of the previous night. How he popped into the hotel. How it was so late that he was unable to secure a room. And how he settled for a couch in the lobby. He didn't know exactly where he was, but judging by the presence of anime characters and authors alike he could make a guess.

"A. R. Pulver, who's asking?"

JusSonic jumped back. "Ah hah! An evil A. R. Pulver from another dimension!!"

Arp sat up on the couch and picked up his camera. "Well duh, of course I'm from another dimension. How the hell do you think Ash could be at this hotel and racing in my series at the same time?"

"Oh..." JusSonic dropped his guard. He also made a mental note to tell that to Digi-Fan. "So you're not evil?"

Arp cracked a smile, "Depends on who you ask. Nah... I think my evil counterpart's still an Accounting major. So who are you?"

JusSonic relaxed an extended a hand. "JusSonic. Histeria author."

The blond author from another world received the handshake and smiled. It was the first sign of familiarity he had heard. "Ah, Histeria... cool show. I always liked Charity. During the sketches she's so depressed but during the songs they shoot her full of Prozac or something. Fun show."

The Histera! author smiled at the comment before getting down to business. "So what brings you here? Rejected by those AA idiots or something?"

"Nah. I left them awhile ago. Good thing too, I heard all hell broke loose last series they did. But I've been doing a series on my own. Amazing Race knockoff. At least I was. We had a shortage of camera guys so I stepped in. I was shooting Takato and Henry's race on Mars when they screwed up a Boson Jump and ended up here. They went back... I didn't."

"That's a problem."

"No kidding." They walked up to the reception desk and were greeted, as always, by Val.

"Well, I didn't expect you to drop by."

"I, uh... didn't expect to drop by either."

"I'm assuming you need a room?"

"Please. I don't know how long it'll be until I get in touch with Jerry."

"Jerry?" JusSonic asked.

"My director. You know all of these reality shows have directors that don't really get any on-screen time or attention. In fact, I think Jerry went to school with John Sumner."

"Who's John Sumner?"

"He's directs the AS projects," Val answered while processing Arp's hotel room, "We don't talk about him much. He's kind of an ass. He just does his thing and we do ours."

Val continued to type on the computer as Arp looked around. "So what is this? AS6?"

"Five," Val and JusSonic answered.

"On the Moon huh? Nice. Boy have I been gone a long time."

"Here you go Arp, room 724. Should I take your camera up there?" Val handed Arp a key.

"Thanks, but be careful," Arp said as he handed it over, "It's an expensive camera and if I break it, I bought it."

"Understood." The receptionist took the camera away as Arp pulled out his keychain.

He fiddled with the key as he spoke, "Yeah, this place seems to be in order. Looks pretty good. Are we past the merger yet?"

JusSonic didn't answer. He was busy staring at Arp's big Washu keychain as it danced before his eyes while its owner finally got the key on.

A. R. Pulver clearly noticed, "Oh, you like my keychain?" He held it towards the anti-Washu author. "Yeah, Washu's just awesome. Isn't she the greatest?"

"Boy, you have been gone a long time," JusSonic replied.

* * * *

A small spaceship pulled into the hotel's runway and came to a stop right in front of the entrance. As the ship's door slid open, three teenagers in spacesuits stepped out. The tallest of the three headed for the cargo hold to pull out their bags while the other two went inside and to the front desk.

Once they were safely inside, both of them took off their helmets to reveal their identities. They happened to be Freedom Fighter, the former Anime Survivor guest host, and Cassie Banks, one of his characters from his hit fanfic "The Adventures Series." Val, sitting behind the desk as she usually does, greeted them.  
  
"Welcome to the Anime Survivor Hotel!" Val noticed the tallest and remarked. "Kinda late this year, aren't we?

The figure was shown to be the final 'legend' in the reality genre, the Roomies author, Freedom Fighter.

"Yeah... there was a scheduling snafu. My company had to construct a spaceship to get up here, and that took us a bit longer than usual. Fighter commented.

"I see." Val then took a good look at Cassie. "And who do we have here?"

Fighter smiled. "Val, this is Cassie. Cassie, Val."

Cassie reached out to shake Val's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Cassie here is staying in the hotel with us, along with her boyfriend." Freedom Fighter explained.

"Her boyfriend?"

As if on cue, the third member of the crew finally appeared in the hotel lobby, pulling a cart loaded with luggage bags.

Fighter explained again. "This is Arius McFly, Cassie's traveling partner and boyfriend."

The young man pulls off his helmet so that he's able to talk.

"Hi!" he said, quite happy obviously.

Cassie less so. "What took you so long?"

"These things are heavy! Especially yours!" the guy complained.

Obviously, he didn't realise the problems the guys and girls were having at the hotel. That was the LAST thing he should have said.

Cue the clenched fist pose.

"WHAT WAS THAT?"

Arius gulped, and wisely stepped back before speaking. "Um... what I meant to say was that yours were the lightest! By far, they were!"

Fighter sighed. "Cute couple, huh? Anyway, do you have an extra room to spare for them?"

Val checked her records and nodded. "I believe there's one available on the seventh floor."

Val handed Fighter two sets of keys. One for the room Arius and Cassie were going to share, and one for the room that Fighter had reserved for himself on the tenth floor. After all, he was going to be a cameo this year.

"Thanks! And you don't need to worry... these two here are model citizens. They wouldn't dare cause any trouble." He made a small glare at them. "Right?"

Arius beamed. "You can count on us!"

Cassie also smiled. "We won't let you down, boss!"

"Good. Remember, this is a business trip! No goofing off, especially if you two want to keep your jobs!"

The trio then headed for the elevator, with Arius pulling their baggage cart all the way there.

* * * *

"Man, DotD's going to be shocked to see you here," JusSonic said as he and A. R. Pulver headed into the cafeteria for some breakfast.

"DotD?"

"Globie's new name."

Arp chuckled, "Oh. I see... because of that rivalry we're supposed to have. It's not as bad as you'd think. A few quotes taken out of context and a few things blown out of proportion and suddenly we're supposed to be bitter enemies."

"You're not?"

"No. I talked to him a couple weeks ago. He's doing pretty good. The whole thing between him and I is mostly overstated nonsense. Kinda like the supposed rivalry between Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon."

"What anime are they from?"

"They're not. They're Japanese writers from the Heian period. You know, not everything revolves around anime."

"Blasphemy!!" Anime Master ZERO shouted from the other end of the room.

Arp glanced awkwardly in that direction and returned his attention to JusSonic. "So what's been going on?"

"Well... a bunch of evil versions of authors are raising hell, the boys and girls all hate each other, and Persona's well... Persona."

"So basically it's pretty standard hotel fare," Arp was unimpressed. He had hoped something *unusual* was going on.

"Well, Tommy's been acting strangely... even by hotel standards."

To support JusSonic's judgment, Tommy stormed by, deliberately stomping his feet on the ground in some sort of pattern.

"Ai-yai-yai, I'm your little butterfly! Green, black and blue make the colors in the sky!!!" Tommy shouted as he "danced" by.

Arp grinned slightly as Tommy continued past them. "I don't see anything wrong with Tommy," said the author slash Dance Dance Revolution maniac.

* * * *

Rika and Jeri were up early and were returning from breakfast when they saw Takuya standing nearby. As they always did with the Frontier kids, they ignored him. The girls saw the boys, Takato and Henry, exit their room.

"Finally up?" Rika said as the four met in the hallway.

Henry rubbed his eyes. "I'm not a morning person."

"We already got breakfast. If you're going down now, how about we meet you down there in half an hour?" Jeri suggested.

"Good idea. Remind me to swing by and pick up my winnings from the booth." Rika said.

Henry smiled. "Finally joining the dark side?"

"I heard a hot tip about Miaka. Not that it matters, my Mom's loaded, remember?"

"Well, we'll see you down there!" Takato said. As they passed by, he turned to Henry, "You know if we had woken up two minutes later, they would have walked in on us changing."

"And I needed to know that... why?" Henry replied.

Rika put the key in the lock.

"You two still rooming with them?" Takuya got the girls' attention. They turned to him.

"What do you mean by that gogglehead?" Rika was sharp with the reply.

"Well... you heard what they did last night, didn't you?" Takuya was smug, as always, "I can't imagine any girl getting near them after they were caught peeking on Raye."

"Raye? You mean Raye Hino?" Jeri asked for clarification.

"No, Rei Ayanami." Takuya changed his position after the sarcastic quip, pushing himself against the wall. "Of course Raye Hino, and I saw the whole thing. Takato, Henry, and anonymous pervert number three snuck into her room last night. They were videotaping her in the shower. And get this- they got away with it! Well, except for the guy with the camera- he was pounded Keitaro-style."

Jeri shook her head. "I don't believe you."

"Who else saw this?" Rika was skeptical, but willing to ask for more details.

"Lots of people! Koji, me, that Akito Tenkawa kid. If you have any doubts, you can just ask Raye herself. I'm sure she's looking for a way to get at them."

"Indeed we will..." Rika grew sinister.

"Having second thoughts about rooming with them now?"

"Wait a minute." Jeri still refused to believe Takuya's sincerity. "How can you get on our case for rooming with Takato and Henry when Zoe's stuck with you and JP?"

"Yeah... you and Tons of Fun are hardly model gentlemen." Rika reiterated.

"Hey, at least Zoe's comfortable with us. I mean, it's not like we were caught peeking on..." Takuya stopped and thought for a moment, "Okay, that one time was an accident. She brought that on herself." Takuya almost got a nosebleed recalling the incident at the beachhouse.

"Whatever. Just go back to whatever hole you crawled out of. And if those two really did what you said they did... they'll pay." Rika and Jeri walked into their room and slammed the door.

After glancing at each other for a second, they ran down the hall and rapped on Akito Tenkawa's room.

"Yeah?" The cook/Aesti pilot answered.

"Were Takato and Henry snooping on Raye last night?" Rika asked.

"I guess so. It's a little weird. They ran out, and as they were running, they...

"Thanks." Rika stormed off angrily, not listening to the rest of Akito's story.

"So what do we do, Rika?" Jeri asked, a little scared of the consequences of living with two perverts.

Rika pounded her fist. "We destroy them."

* * * *

Later that morning, after having gotten over the motion sickness from traveling in a rocket for the first time ever, Freedom Fighter came out of his room to run right smack into Kelly, one of the co-hosts of AS5. And she didn't seem to be happy at all.

"Why don't you watch where you're going?" Kelly complained

"Sorry... I usually do watch where I'm going." Fighter defended himself.

"Wait a minute..."

Kelly looked at Fighter's face and recognized him from a profile given to her earlier in the day.

"You don't happen to be Freedom Fighter by any chance, do you?"

Fighter nodded. "Yes, that's me. And who might you be, if you mind me asking?"

If that didn't piss her ego off, it certainly pissed her off.

"All you need to know is that your supposed to be heading down to the dome to cameo in today's reward challenge!"

Fighter was confused. 5 minutes here and already up for it? "I am?"

Kelly wasn't finished yet. "And to top that, I heard that you only got here today! You were supposed to report here eighteen days ago!"

Fighter sighed. "It would've helped if you could've provided transportation here!"

Kelly was quickly getting to her wit's end. "That's not our responsibility! The only ones we gave transport to were those that were at the spaceport the day we left Earth. You weren't there, so it was up to you get here!"

Fighter was normally calm, but she was starting to get a tad on his nerves. "I didn't even know there was going to be an Anime Survivor up here until Globie told me when he found out I wasn't here!"

Kelly resumed her normal look…confused. "Globie? You know the Descendant of Dragon, our boss?"

Now Fighter was confused. "Yes. I was a guest host for the past two seasons! How could you have not known about me?"

Kelly didn't care. "It doesn't matter! What does matter is that you're supposed to be heading off for the reward challenge! Figures... you men always keeping us waiting."

Now whilst Fighter didn't know about the problems about here, he was about to have a very Hibiki Amawan moment.

"Pardon me?"

Kelly didn't heed the change in tone. "Just because you're a guy doesn't mean you've got the right to get here whenever you please!"

Fighter's cool quickly snapped.

"When are you going to get it through your thick skull that I didn't have a say when I could get here?"

Fortunately, before one or the other did something they'd regret, a voice saved them.

"Kelly, is that the guy?  
  
Fighter turns and sees Jayson, the other host of AS5, coming towards them.

"And who might you be?"

Jayson introduced himself. "I'm Jayson, one of the hosts this season. Kelly there behind you, she's the other."

"No offense to your boss... but what hole of abyss did he pick her out of?"

Before Jayson could readily agree, Kelly hit Fighter upside the head strongly, nearly knocking the author cameo to the ground.

"The boss is a fool to have an author like you cameo!" Kelly screamed.

Jayson sighed. "Kelly... you can't be insulting the cameos like this! You nearly killed Koji last time…"

"So?"

Fighter coughed before the argument changed into the usual affair. "As much as I'd like to stay here and get all friendly, don't I have a challenge to cameo?"

Jayson was glad to get out of that. "Oh, right. Follow me, Mr. Fighter."

Jayson and Fighter head off to the elevator, leaving the fuming Kelly behind.

Jayson decided to fill him in. "So... what do you know about playing hockey?"

Despite being an author, he had the ability to sweatdrop with the best of them. "Just hope that I don't trip over someone and injury them for life."

Jayson nearly sweatdropped himself. "That bad, huh?"

"Let's just say slick surfaces and I don't mix."

The elevator doors close behind them as they head down to the lobby.

* * * *

When Takato and Henry arrived downstairs, they had the strange feeling that they were in danger.  
  
Naru stood up and pointed at them. "There they are!!"  
  
Motoko stepped in front of her and sliced, "Zankuusen!"  
  
Neither of the Tamers could blink before receiving a kendo strike head-on. They fell backwards, into the awaiting arms of virtually every female in the room.  
  
The mauling continued for a straight five minutes until Raye herself stopped it.  
  
"That's enough. Let them up."  
  
The girls let up. Dorothy calmly walked by, slapping both in the face. They were already bruised and bleeding.  
  
"Now... this should teach you to videotape me in the shower..." Raye delivered a mighty whollop to both Takato and Henry, sending them through the (closed) doorway and flying down the hall. They finally landed at the base of the betting booth.  
  
D Marco threw a few dollars in Henry's direction. "You think you're so smooth just because you picked Miaka. Everybody picked Miaka!" He spat.  
  
Henry could barely move, much less pick up the money. Fortunately, Nabiki was nearby, and handled that problem easily enough. She also added a kick to each of their groins for good measure.  
  
"You know what Henry... suddenly I'm not in the mood for breakfast," Takato moaned.

* * * *

"BLARRRRGH!"

Persona was hanging over the toilet in the restroom of the newly repaired nightclub, in the throws of a massive hangover.

"Ohhhhh, my head. What the hell was I thinking?"

That was the state in which Vash, Meryl, and Milly found the author. Needless to say, they were not very impressed.

"So." A rather disgusted Meryl began. "Is this how Persona reacts when he has to take responsibility for his actions? Drink yourself into oblivion as a means of escape? You're pathetic."

Even Vash, Persona's right hand man, had lost respect for him. "I must say, I thought I knew you better than this. Is this the true Persona I'm seeing now?"

As the others continued to express their disappointment in him as a person, Persona tried to piece together the events of the last few days.

*FLASHBACK*

Persona balked at the piece of paper he currently held in his hand.

"What's this for?" He asked.

Chromus, looking rather cross, answered him flat out.

"That's what it's going to cost to repair all the damage you caused to the thirteenth floor. And YOU are going to pay it."

All color drained from Persona's face after hearing that. "Tell me you're joking."

"Sorry, but I'm dead serious." Chromus replied. "I just got word that, while we have Persona insurance up the wazoo, we're not covered for attacks by Egyptian Gods. Go figure."

As the seriousness of this situation began to dawn on the silver haired author, Chromus hit him with the clincher.

"By the way, the former Globie heard about the devastation to the thirteenth floor. He told me to tell you that if you don't clean up your mess, he's going to come back and personally break his foot off in your ass."

Persona gave a sarcastic half smile. "Well, I guess I'll have to pay it, seeing as how he asked so nicely."

After bidding farewell to Chromus, Persona began to wander around the hotel trying to think of how he was going to pay for this, when his walk was halted in the lobby.

"Man, it looks like your best friend just died."

Persona looked up to see Artful and Star Otaku, probably out for a stroll the author reasoned.

"Close." Persona replied. "I just got the repair bill for the club."

"Ouch, this situation seems rather familiar doesn't it?" Star asked.

Persona smiled and nodded. "I know. I'm having flashbacks to the second season as well. At least I don't have a certain someone smashing me in the face with her lunch bag this time around!" He said with a grin.

The three shared a good laugh, remembering the old days. "Hey, what say you get your mind off your problems for a while?"

Persona looked at Artful with a raised eyebrow after his remark. "Sounds like a plan. What did you have in mind?"

Artful, not saying a word, simply smiled and raised his left arm, which had a duel disk attached to it. Persona needed no further coaxing.

Grinning like a madman, Persona leaped into the air and executed a spinning back flip (catching the attention of all in the lobby), landing far enough away that there was now a decent size field between them to duel on. After landing, Persona struck a pose and pointed directly at his opponent. "I accept your challenge Artful! Prepare to duel!" He shouted in his most serious voice.

After receiving a few odd stares from Artful and Star (and just about anyone else watching), Persona relaxed and started acting normal again. "Sorry, but I always wanted to do that!" He said with a sheepish grin.

"Fair enough." Artful replied with a grin of his own. He than reached into his pocket and removed a coin. "Call it, heads or tails?"

"Tails."

Artful flipped the coin into the air and let it fall to the ground where all could see.

"Looks like it's heads." He stated. "Shall we begin then?"

Persona was about to say yes when a thought struck him. "Wait a moment, what say we make this duel a bit more interesting? How about a friendly wager?"

Artful raised an eyebrow, his interest awakened. "And just what did you have in mind?"

"Oh, say if I win, you pay that repair bill I just showed you?" Persona suggested, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

Everyone who had gathered around to watch the duel had thought the proposal a joke. That is until...

"And if I win, what say Star-chan and I get a free running tab at the club for the duration of our stay?" Artful replied, much to the shock of everyone around. Persona included.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Asked a concerned Star, worried about the outcome of the duel.

"No worries, I know what I'm doing." A confidant Artful said to reassure the nervous girl. "Do you agree Persona?"

"I do indeed." Persona replied, still not quite believing what just happened. "Well, now that that's out of the way...."

"IT'S TIME TO DUEL!" Both authors shouted at the same time after they finished drawing their respective hands.

*Life Point Total: Artful: 8000 Persona: 8000

"Kick his butt sempai!" An excited Star cheered. "No offence Persona!" She quickly added.

"None taken, perfectly understandable. Now, I believe first round honors are yours." Persona stated. "Feel free to lead us off."

Artful nodded as he drew his card for this turn. "Very well then, I'll lay one card face down and place a monster in defense mode to end my turn."

Persona drew his card and smiled. "I too will place a monster in defense mode, but you my friend are about to feel the burn! I play the magic cards Final Flame and Tremendous Fire! The first inflicts six hundred point of direct damage to your life points while the second does a thousand! I take five hundred point of damage from Tremendous Fire as well, but I think it's worth the trade off."

*Life Point Total: Artful: 6400 Persona: 7500

"Your move." Persona said as he ended his turn.

"Well played." Artful acknowledged. "But let's see how you handle this. I summon Gemini Elf in attack mode, and attack your face down card!"

*Gemini Elf 1900/900

As the attack was called, Persona's monster was reviled as the Princess of Tsurugi. "While you did destroy my monster, you also activated her special ability." Persona announced. "My princess inflicts five hundred points of damage to you for each magic or trap card you have on the field. Be thankful you only have one."

*Life Point Total: Artful: 5900 Persona: 7500

The duel continued on like this for some time. While Artful kept summoning monsters, Persona kept playing defense and using direct damage and effects to weaken his opponent without attacking. At this point Persona had played a Dark Hole magic card to clear the field of all monsters and placed a monster in defense mode.

*Life Point Total: Artful: 3350 Persona: 4100

Artful played his next card, wanting to get through Persona's defense. "I summon Mechanical Chaser, in attack mode!"

*Mechanical Chaser 1850/800

"Go Mechanical Chaser! Scrotum Sword Slash!"

Everyone turned and gave Artful an odd look. Even his own monster stopped in mid-attack and turned to look at it's master, the expression on it's face seeming to ask "The hell?"

Persona was joining everyone else with an odd look and a sweatdrop. "Scrotum sword slash.....?"

Artful didn't think his attack phrase was all that unexpected. "What? Just look at where it's sword is! It's not right I tell you!" Even the monster sweatdroped this time, but sure enough, it's blade WAS hanging from it's..... Lower extremities.

Artful sighed. "Just attack his down card."

Obeying, the attack reveled Persona's Giant Soldier of Stone.

*Giant Soldier of Stone 1300/2000

"D'oh!" Artful shouted as he received the difference in damage.

*Life Point Total: Artful: 3200 Persona: 4100

"I'll lay one more monster in defense mode and end my turn." Persona stated as his next barrier appeared on the field.

Artful drew his next card and immediately his face twisted into an evil grin. "It was a good duel Persona, but now it's about to end. I play the magic card Raigeki!"

Persona was horrified as he heard those words. Raigeki was a rare and mighty card that instantly destroyed all monsters on his side of the field. And as Persona's defensive wall was shattered, Artful continued his offensive.

"I summon Goblin Attack Force, in attack mode!"

*Goblin Attack Force 2300/0

"Now, both of my monsters will attack your life points directly, winning me this duel!"

It was true. The combined attack of both his monsters was fifty points greater than Persona's total life points. The duel was over.

"It was a good duel." Persona said, walking up to Artful to congratulate him. "And as they say, to the victor go the spoils." Persona was now in front of Artful and offered him his hand, which he accepted.

"As of this moment, or rather the moment it's back up and running again, the money of Star Otaku and Artful will no longer be accepted at my club for the duration of the competition." Persona announced to all around to make Artful's prize for winning the duel official. "Just don't the two of you put me out of business, okay?" He added with a playful smirk.

Artful and Star shared a bit of a laugh. "We'll try, but no promises though." Artful said with a smirk of his own.

"So, how long until you can find someone to repair the place?" Asked Star.

Now that Persona was relaxed, he remembered he had a secret weapon for just such emergencies. "Not that long at all I think. In fact, I could probably get a virtual army to repair the place in record time!"

"Really?" Asked a curious Artful. "Just who are these miracle workers?"

"Well, " Persona began. "after Dragonball Z ended, some of the cast members decided to change careers. Tenshinhan for example got into repair and restoration, and with that multiplication technique of his, he's his own work crew!"

Star and Artful glanced at each other abd back at Persona with looks of bewilderment on their faces. "Are you serious?" The female author asked.

"Very. In fact, he even gives me a special discount because he says I provide him with so much business. Though I have no idea what he could mean by that." Persona replied, actually keeping a straight face.

The couple sweatdroped, but smiled anyway. "Well, good luck to you Persona. Take care!" Star said, as she and Artful decided to continue on their way.

"You too, see you around." Persona said as he waived goodbye.

After they had left, Persona pulled out his phone, called up Tenshinhan (who for some reason was on the author's speed dial), and informed him of the situation. Even with the discount given to him, the cost of the repairs was still enough to return Persona to his previous state of depression.

"I just want to forget today ever happened." Persona said to himself while glancing at the club's bar, which had weathered most of the attack by Osiris.

*END FLASHBACK*

"Oh, right." Persona said as he picked himself off the floor. "That's what happened last week."

"Is that it?" Asked a still disgusted Meryl. "'That's what happened last week.' Is that all you have to say for yourself?"

"No." Persona said, looking her in the eye. "I have two other things to say as well. First off, how I deal with situations is my concern and none of your business. Secondly, the events of last week have nothing to do with the state I'm in now."

"Oh really?" Milly asked, not really believing him. "Then what happened to leave you in such a state?"

Persona actually looked kind of embarrassed after he thought about it. "Well, you see....."

*FLASHBACK*

With the night club under repair for the next day or so, and with not too much happening with the competition yet, Persona decided to take one of the warp portals on the first floor back to Earth for a little while to hang out with his friends, where a very different competition was in full swing.

"...and at the end of the third period, the Vancouver Canucks take the series in game seven with a score of four to one!"

There are two things in this world Persona never misses: a season of Anime Survivor, and the Canucks while on a roll. The author was currently at The Shark Club in Vancouver watching the game with his friends, and the party just kicked into high gear.

"Four to one! Talk about a great way to end the series!" Kenny yelled, trying to be heard over the noise in the sports bar.

"Forget the score, just winning was great!" Persona yelled. "This is the first time in about eight years Vancouver made it past the first round!"

"Next up is Minnesota, I still can't believe they defeated Colorado!" Yelled Wayne.

"Gentlemen!" Called Nick, who was carrying a rather large bottle of Vodka and four shot glasses. "It's time for a toast. In celebration of the Canuck's advancement! Here's to hoping we take the cup this year!"

That having been said, the four of them downed their shots and slammed the glasses back onto the table, where they were soon filled again.

"Now, let's celebrate each individual goal Vancouver scored during the course of the series!" Nick yelled.

The rest of the night seemed to blur from that point on.

*END FLASHBACK*

The trio all sweatdropped as Persona finished.

"Well, I'm going to head down to the restaurant. I could use some food and a large cup of coffee right about now." Persona said, making sure he could still walk straight. "Anyone else care to join me?" The author asked as he started on his way.

Vash turned to the girls and shrugged. "Well, that sounds more like the Persona I know."

Meryl sighed. "Come on Milly, we're being paid to follow him after all. Besides, lunch does sound good about now."

* * * *

Arius and Cassie are making their way towards the cafeteria to eat some lunch. But upon entering, they find themselves confronting two familiar 'friends.'

Cassie squealed. "That's gotta be them, Arius! Let's say hi to them!"

Arius shrugged. "Okay, but don't blame me if they yell at us."

The two wander over and say hello... to their fellow Pokémon trainers, Ash and Misty.

"Hello? Miss us?"

Misty and Ash however obviously recognised them, as the water girl spoke first. "Arius? Cassie?"

Ash didn't seem as happy. "What are you two doing here?"

Cassie put her hands in front to prove their intentions were not out of violence…or ill will….or putting Ash with the bill.

"Will you chill out? Remember, we've long left the Pokémon Trainers' Association. We're just two, normal Pokémon trainers just like you.

Arius became devil's advocate. "Or in the case of this hotel, two nobodies."

Cassie sweatdropped before Ash resumed conversation. Or resumed picking a fight, whichever you pick.

"How did you get here?"

"Ash! Don't be so mean!" Misty reprimanded.

Ash, stubborn as always, continued. "Why not? Don't you remember what they did?"

Cassie wasn't happy either. "That was in the context of our fic! How can you get so emotional over a character brought into the fold by our boss, just like us?"

Ash wasn't having any of that. "Having a hand in getting rid of someone like that is bad, even if the guy was just a regular actor!"

"Well, don't blame me! Blame the script!"

Arius decided that was enough. "I told you that talking to them was a waste of time, Cassie. Let's go."

Misty however, was the surprise calm within the storm. "Wait a minute! Don't go!"

Cassie turned around. "Why? You don't want us around?"

Misty resumed calm. "Yes we do! Well, I do anyway! Why can't we let bygones be bygones?" Then with a smirk at Ash, she continued. "Besides, we do want to remain in the good graces of their creator, don't we?"

Ash then caused the surprise by being slightly smart. "You're only saying that because you're the only one he likes."

Misty fumed. "No, I'm not!"

"Yes, she is. I should know... I'm his errand boy." Arius said.

Cassie sighed and patted him on the shoulder. "Sad, but true."

Misty had enough. "So what? I still say we should forget what happened in the past and be friends again."

Finally, some breakthrough.

"Sounds good to me!" (Cassie)

"I guess I could live with it." (Arius)

"I guess I could too." (Ash)

Cassie smiled. "Let's shake on it then!"

The foursome shakes hands with each other, though the boys are a bit reluctant at first.

Cassie now resumed a normal topic now. "So, now that we've forgiven each other... let's talk Anime Survivor!"

"Yeah, like who's in it for Pokémon and if he or she is still in." Arius added.

Misty smiled. "Do you want to tell them about Casey or should I?"

Ash sweatdropped. "Um... maybe you should."  
  
Cassie however was confused. "Casey? Who's Casey?"

Misty sighed. "I guess I'm stuck telling you about our own Electabuzz fan."

"Trust me... no one talks more about baseball than she does. Just hope you don't meet her in person." Ash groaned.

Ash and Misty begin to tell Arius and Cassie about the good... and bad points of Casey, Pokémon's peppiest Anime Survivor representative.

* * * *

After an extensive round in the infirmary, Takato and Henry returned from their breakfast outing in the afternoon. Their arms were still in slings and it still hurt when they walked, but at least they were soon to be safe in their hotel room.

"Henry, I'm not waking up until the Final Four, okay?"

"Right, Takato."

They opened the door. Both Rika and Jeri were standing there with death on their faces.

"OF all the sick, low-life perverts in this hotel... to think that you'd have the nerve to..."

"Oh, no... not you too Jeri," Takato tried to look Jeri in the eyes, but couldn't.

"Unbelievable. Don't think for a minute that you're any safer with us. You're just lucky the other girls got to you before I did," Rika said, pounding her fists.

Takato and Henry gulped. As much pain as they were in, they knew she was right.

"Look, we really need to lie down for awhile and..."

"Go to hell Matsuki!!" Jeri's puppy puppet was right in Takato's face.

The door slammed shut. Both Takato and Henry sighed and walked away.

"So now what?" Henry asked.

"So now the perverts come crawling to me." The two looked at Koji, smugly smiling at them.

"What do you want?" Takato said.

"Look, I've seen my share of hentais like you, and the stunt you two pulled with Raye is beyond anything I've ever seen."

"We didn't do anything to Raye!" Henry replied.

"Don't deny it now. Takuya and I saw it with our own eyes. You two and someone else was videotaping her in the shower."

"We were not!" Takato yelled.

"But look, you guys have been bloodied up, beaten, and kicked out of your rooms. Therefore, I'm going to help you out... for a price."

"What kind of price?" Henry was suddenly interested.

"Look, Takuya and I were planning to make your life a living hell for the next couple days. He's only been at it a couple hours and he's already done so. So now I'm ready to do some double-crossing." Koji looked around. "Have you seen how Tommy's been acting lately?"

"Yeah..." Takato replied.

"Takuya, Zoe, and JP can't stand him anymore, so he shipped him off to my room. And frankly, it's driving me nuts. Every time he goes to bed he either thinks he's a different character on a side quest or he's babbling about how he's recovering all his health points. I haven't gotten a wink of sleep since I was voted off! Now from what I hear, it was your pal Jeri that made him like this. So here's the deal- you help me cure Tommy, and I'll help get the heat off you."

Henry nodded, "Hey, sure, we're a little freaked by Tommy too. What's first on the agenda."

Koji smiled again, "We wait a night. Hopefully things will die down a little. You can crash in my room. You'll have to put up with Tommy, but hopefully with three of us, it won't be that bad."

"Great! Thanks a bunch Koji! Maybe we were wrong about you!" Takato smiled as the three headed back to Koji's room.

Koji couldn't help but look away, "Then again, maybe you weren't," he thought.

* * * *

(That night...)  
  
Koji swung the door open. Takato and Henry entered it. Inside was Tommy, standing in place in the center of the room.

"Good... he's not doing anything. Quick, get in there." Koji shoved them both in.

And that's when Tommy started waving his arms around madly in some sort of choreographed pattern. And he sung... badly-

"Can't stop fallin' in love! Baby, you'll be king! Makin' love with you is all I wanna do! Wanna do!!"

Takato and Henry's mouths fell agape.

"Oh no..." Takato whispered... "Not Para Para Paradise!!"

Koji laughed as he shut the door. "Say you love me, baby. Say you will always be mine. You'll never break my heart..." Koji was jokingly singing along to Tommy's crooning as he went downstairs to crash with his fellow digi-destined for the night.

* * * *

Adam Pulver had landed on the Moon. Albeit, it was a very rough landing. Fortunately, Miss Val was accomodating enough to give him a room.

And said room was down a very dark hallway. Normally, Adam wasn't nervous being alone in a dark hallway. Even with the chaos abound, and even with him making a wrong first impression with the females, he wasn't worried about being made into another target. Or used for target practice.

Nope.

But it was this hallway that made him a little jumpy. Like some unsavoury element would just pop out from the shadows.

He shook his bright blonde head about, trying to get rid of the feeling.

But, he was so caught up in trying to get rid of the creepiness, he didn't hear the scraping of a ceiling grate being misplaced.

Not really paying mind to the sound, for he never did hear it, he slipped his key into the doorlock, waiting for that click of confirmation and access.

*click*

That wasn't the sound of the lock, because it came from near his temple.

Adam's eyes darted to the side to see that a revolver was pointed at his head, and said gun was in the hands of a girl hanging upside down an open grate. Pretty much in the same style of one Kirika Yamura, half of the deadly duo Noir.

"Well, now I know how those Soldats guys feel... Might as well get a look at the girl who's gonna kill me..."

He slowly turned around, still staring down the barrel. He looked past it and saw the girl smirk, then pull the weapon away.

With a flourish of a flip, she landed upright before him, that playful smirk still on her lips. Of course, she was in a schoolgirl fuku (a black skirt, yellow vest, white shirt, pink bow), and her hair was black and messy, but there was something familiar about her.

She gave her hair a haughty flip, and posed sullenly (rather more seductively) for him.

Adam squinted past the dark light, trying to make out her face. There was a sinister and dark complexion to her, but aside from that, she was recognizable.

"Star?"

There was a glint in her eyes and the grin on her face was more menacing than that of the gun...

He started to back away slowly, and she silently stalked after his every step.

"Hey, can't we stop and talk about this? Star? Star?"

The poor boy tried to reason with her, but he didn't have a chance as she glomped him mercilessly.

And no one was around to hear him scream.

* * * *

DAY 20

"So, you're finally here?" Val seemed a bit testy.

"I'm so sorry! My stepmom went crazy on me and locked me in my room! Do you know how uninteresting Moon history is?!"

"Okay okay, but just this once!" Val handed Serenity her key.

"Gah! I'm so behind! Phoenix's gonna kill me, Joe'll pulverize me, Zach, I'm sure will..." She opened her room. Zach and Phoenix were sleeping on her floor. "WHAT THE-?!" She opened the door fully, hitting Phoenix square in the center of his head.

"OW!!" He sat up and rubbed his head. "How many times do I have to tell you Roomservice people-"

"What, am I so late that the gave my room to you guys?"

A grin spread over Phoenix's face, "Zach. Bro, get up. Serenity's finally here!" Zach rolled over, hitting his head on the leg of Serenity's bed.

"Shaddap. Five more minutes..."

Serenity crossed her arms, "I presume that you have your own room, Kaiser. What are you doing in mine?" Zach's eyes flew open.

"Do you know how worried I was?!"

"For someone who wanted five more minutes, you sure got up quick."

"That's not the point! Where have you been?!"

"Chandra chained me to my desk. I could tell you the date of every single dark moon uprising, even if it ended in seven minutes."

"Ouch." Phoenix wrinkled his nose.

"I, eh heh, kinda skipped out on the test." Serenity laughed nervously. "I hoped that they wouldn't shut the hotel doors on me."

"The least you could have done was called or something." Zach was still a bit miffed.

"C'mon, cut me some slack."

"What if you'd been kidnapped again by Meilee or something?! Goddess' been worried too."

Serenity started to feel a bit upset. "Zach, I didn't know that this would mean so much to you. I'm really really sorry."

"aHEM." Phoenix cleared his throat, "I'll just... go downstairs and get us breakfast." Phoenix shut the door. Zach gave Serenity a kind of sad smile.

"So, why'd you skip out on the test?"

"Eh, no big deal really." Serenity turned and started putting her things away, hoping Zach wouldn't ask her more.

"It kinda seems like a big deal to you. Something wrong?"

"No." She managed a laugh, "Of course not."

"Are you sure you're-"

"I'm fine, okay!" She leaned on her dresser, "I just, don't like thinking about it."

"About what?" Zach picked up the only hanging bag Serenity had brought. "This your dress for the formal?"

"Yes, it is."

"Mind if I look at it?" Serenity shook her head and continued unpacking her things. Zach unzipped the bag. A black dress spilt onto the floor. It was strapless with a white sliver interrupting the continuous black. At the point of the sliver, silver rhinestones erupted in a star pattern. "Wow... you'd- I mean, this looks really pretty."

Serenity managed a hollow laugh, "Right. Like I'd ever fit into her shoes."

"What?"

"I mean, like I'd ever fit into that dress. It's way too small."

"Right." Zach wasn't stupid and he wasn't falling for her cover up. "Whose dress is this?"

"Mine."

"Before you." She fell silent.

"My- mother's..." She took the dress from him. "She gave it to me when I was really young, before she died. She looked so beautiful in it and... I can't image me in it. I mean, like Chandra said, I've got absolutely nothing going for me. I'm stupid, unreliable, and I'll never be as pretty as my mom."

Zach stared at her in disbelief, "What?!"

Damn, I wasn't supposed to say that. "Eh, just kidding! I wonder where Phoenix is." Serenity started towards the door.

"That's total crap." Serenity turned to look at Zach.

"You don't have to make me feel better Zach."

"You're smart, and I can always count on you, and..."

"And...?" Serenity stood on edge.

"I don't know what your mother looked like but," he licked his lips and thought for a split second, "You're beautiful to me."

* * * *

At least Koji was nice enough to return. He knocked on the door. "Guys? You okay?" 

Two bloodshot eyes met him as Takato stared back. "Is that you Koji?" 

"Yeah. Sorry about last night. I forgot I had to go do something with Takuya..." Koji lied, "Grab Tommy. I think I know a way we can fix him." 

Takato swung the door open. "You better not be trying to get us into more trouble." 

Koji forced back a laugh. "No! Of course not. I'm your pal here. Ready Henry?" 

Henry was still dazed. "Oh baby, nori nori nori... singing for the glory... para para dancing Eurobeat..." 

At least Tommy was awake. He walked up to Koji. 

"Ready to go Tommy?" 

"Ready Chief Advisor!" Tommy saluted. 

Henry followed as the four walked out. He managed to get his bearings back and asked Koji, "So how do we fix this and why do you need our help?" 

"Simple. Because we need to find that third pervert that had the videotape." 

"For the last time Koji, we didn't spy on Raye!" Takato yelled. 

If he wouldn't have yelled, he may have heard Tommy conjur up a potted plant next to them. 

"Either way, that other guy that was was definitely an author. And where there are authors, there are author powers." 

"Okay... what did he look like?" Henry asked as Tommy instantly changed the wallpaper. 

"You should know." Koji shrugged and answered anyway, "Whatever. He had blond hair, glasses, and he had that video camera on him. It was a nice one too." 

"Let's go talk to Val," suggested Takato. 

"Good call. Hopefully we can dodge people on the way," Henry concurred. 

Koji smiled again, "Don't worry. I planned for it. I just have to stop by Takuya's room. Be right back." 

He ran off, leaving Takato and Henry with Tommy. Tommy was busy waving his hands around. 

Henry looked down, "Hey... didn't this floor used to have blue carpeting?" 

Both looked at Tommy, who just smiled back. 

* * * *

"Okay guys, just act natural." 

But it was awfully hard for them to follow Koji's advice when Takato and Henry were wearing bad wigs and jumpsuits. 

They were on the ground floor when Mina Aino stopped them. "Hey? Who are you two?" 

"Oh... they're..." Koji panicked for a second. 

"Because we're still looking for those two perverts Takato and Henry. They only got one severe beating and I think they deserve even more." 

"Nope. these two are from... Chuuka Ichiban." 

"Chuuka Ichiban?" Mina went in for a closer inspection, "They don't look like anybody from Chuuka Ichiban." 

Koji kept calm. "They're from the OAV. New characters and new character designs." 

"Oh! Okay!" Mina skipped off, leaving the course clear for Koji, Takato, and Henry to reach Val while Tommy quietly changed the patterns on the floor. 

"We need to speak to an author," Koji said, "He's blond, glasses, and he has a video camera." 

"Oh, Arp? Hold on..." Val reached for the intercom, "Would Adam Pulver please report to the lobby? Adam Pulver please report to the lobby." 

"I'm right here!" Adam was standing two feet away. "I've been here for an hour waiting for word on what you did with my camcorder!" 

"Mr. Pulver? Koji Minamoto." Koji extended a hand. 

"Yeah, I know who you are. I'm one of the few who actually watches the fourth season." 

"What do you think of it?" Takato asked. 

"Now I know why the fourth racer in a relay is called the anchor- you guys sunk like one." 

Takato and Henry tried not to laugh. Koji tried not to punch the author in the face. 

Finally, Takato recovered, "Hey, you were one of the perverts spying on Raye, right?" 

Arp laughed, "Actually, what happened was that we were accidentally Boson..." 

"Good, could you convince everybody that it wasn't really us?" 

"No way Takato. I'm having enough trouble keeping myself out of traction. The girls here don't seem to want to listen to the truth, and until I get my video camera, I can't prove that it was an accident." 

"Well, can you at least help Tommy?" Koji asked. The four turned towards Tommy. He had finished up with his business on the toilet, and summoned forth a sink to wash his hands with. 

"Hmm... the DDR was fun, but this Sim thing may be trouble." 

"Sim thing?" Koji asked. 

"Yeah... can't you see it? He's playing a sim game." Arp stopped as Tommy summoned a huge golden fountain and stuck it in the middle of the lobby. 

"I see!" Henry exclaimed, "It's like SimHotel or something! He's looking around for ways to make improvements to the hotel!" 

"Cool!" The four jumped at Val, who shouted at Tommy, "Hey! Can you give the desk worker a 10 percent pay raise?!" 

Suddenly Tommy turned towards Val. "Collective bargaining, huh? I suppose if you don't get your demands you'll go on strike." 

"Uh... yeah! Desk Clerks 404 United is ready to play hardball!" 

"How about a five percent pay raise?" 

Val thought it over and smiled. "Sure!" 

They shook hands. There was money in Val's hand when they released. 

Arp turned to Koji, "Koji, why don't you start looking for my camera. Takato and Henry? I need to talk to you?" 

Koji left as the three remaining stared at Tommy. Arp sighed, "This Tommy thing is getting serious." 

"I know, these Sim powers are scary," Takato said. 

"Well, at least it's a hotel sim and not a dating sim." 

"Dating sim?" Henry asked. 

"Yeah. Don't ask." 

"Oh! You mean those games those losers play where you control the main character and have to score with as many women as possible?" 

"I know those!" Takato shouted, "Kazu loves those games!" 

"You're kidding me..." Henry was disgusted. 

"No, I was over at his house once. He was on a roll the one time I saw him play. He scored with the childhood friend, the tomboy, the smart student, his teacher... and the catgirl!" 

"How the heck did he get the catgirl!? I never get the cat..." Henry suddenly fell silent when Adam and Takato stared him down. "I mean... boy is Kazu a loser." 

Adam changed the subject, "Anyway, we may need outside help. Fortunately, you guys are linked with other Chiaki Konaka shows, right?" As a personal worshipper of all things Konaka, he felt a certain bond with shows Chiaki penned such as Tamers. 

"Um... if you mean Jeri's friendship with Dorothy, then yeah," Takato answered. 

"It'll work now. I'll talk to Dorothy. I know just the person that could help us out. I'll get him on the first shuttle over here and he'll be here in a week. 

"A week?" 

"Look, everybody here seems to have an problem with Washu, so unless you want to bribe somebody into borrowing their giant robot to get him here, we'll have to wait." 

"Whatever. Just go get a hold of him!" Henry yelled. Arp ran off. 

Tommy joined them. He had apparently heard the conversation. "Chief Advisor, put money into researching and developing a teleporter machine to increase business." 

* * * *

Everyone and their mother says that Mina Aino is the Senshi of Love.

That's what they think. They never met Amy. Sure, Sailor Mercury had some better characteristics, but when someone like Joe Mello was in pain, (thanks to a swift beating by Tea) a bit of Mercury TLC was just what the doctor ordered. (Especially since the aspiring doctor was one of the few people that Joe could still hug without serious repercussions.) As Joe wandered through the halls, wondering why he was having a Keitaro-like experience, he ran into a young redhead. Literally.

Unfortunately for both parties, neither expected to see the other ever again.

"YOU!!!"

"Aw, crap. Not another PMS case."

Rika became infuriated. "I'M NOT PMS-ING, YOU EVIL BASTARD!! YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME LAST YEAR!!!"

At around this time, it was clear to Joe that discretion was the better part of valor, and so he ran like hell. Rika, naturally gave chase.

* * * * *

J.P. had finally learned his lesson, or so he thought. As he went back to his room to catch a few z's he noticed an author running straight towards him. J.P couldn't react fast enough, but Joe sure could as he jumped over the rotund Digiwarrior and quickly turned left down another hallway. Thankfully, someone else was running towards him, too; she could clear any confusion. "Hey, Rika! What's going on?"

Did I say "thankfully"?

A swift uppercut sent JP flying backwards. He hit the ground and skidded a few yards before he finally came to a stop. Right under a Guest Host.

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!! PERVERT!!!!!" Although it was normally used on Brock, Misty showed no hesitation for summoning her trusty Letcher Hammer on a stranger. A quick slam downward followed a golf club-like swing sent the unfortunate boy blasting off again. Thankfully, he didn't get stuck in the wall he landed on, and someone else was on hand.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but could you help me up?"

Did I say "thankfully"? I believe I did, but I'll say it again anyways.

No one could possibly rationalise why Nuriko would take offence to J.P's appellation, but hey, who doesn't like gratuitous violence? J.P. cursed his luck as he was sent blasting off again via a swift Naru-esque (there it is again) roundhouse kick.

* * * * *

Joe stopped running to catch his breath. If Rika was anywhere, it wasn't near him. Therefore, he was in the clear. He resumed a normal walking pace. _Damn 03 kids. I thought they weren't invited here_, the author thought._ Maybe it's just that witch 'cuz she narrates the 04 show_. Joe continued his fuming about the Tamers as he reached his room.

Coincidentally, Little Serenity was next to his door. Since he and she were, like, you know, he decided to execute a sneak glomp attack. The good news was that Joe was successful in literally smothering the Authoress in love. The bad news was that he was then kicked by said Authoress into his room. Lucky for him, the door opened and he only ran into the back wall. Of course that _was_ his luck. Otherwise he'd be back in with Amy and probably feeling better than he did.

* * * * *

Bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day...

Joe continued to recite Jackie Chan's catch phrase as he sat in the fetal position in a dark corner of his room. This was definitely a bad day. Between Botan telling him off, Tea killing him off, Rika ticking him off, and Serenity throwing him off, he had enough bad karma to satisfy Team Rocket through a standard-length OVA. However, before he was able to sink to a level of depression comparable to last year's cosplay (which we won't get into), there was a knock on the door.

Okay, so maybe it was so much a knock as a loud, pounding open. Joe jumped up from his corner and laid eyes on his self-invited guest, a rather sensually dressed Star Otaku cosplaying the infamous (at least to Joe and his friends) Ms. Deep (_Read or Die_).

Joe's hentai sense was tingling so he proceeded with caution. "Why little Imouto-chan, what a surprise to see you here," he said with a nervous tone and varied pitch. "I thought you weren't cosplaying again."

Star was surprisingly stumped by the comment. "Yeah . . . well . . . I changed my mind." She quickly changed her tone. "But enough about that," she said in a voice that was low and sultry and sounded like every pervert's dream was about to come true.

Joseph Mellon was in total panic. Joe's pet name, "Imouto" translates in English to "little sister." So, you could understand that, while Star was mentally undressing Joe, he did everything in his power to make sure she couldn't physically undress him. Unfortunately, as it normally happens in this type of situation, Joe's escape attempts failed and was eventually pinned to the back wall by a very hungry Star Otaku. So, as a last ditch effort he tried to talk things out.

"Come on, Star. You don't really want to do this, do you?"

Star, in heated breaths, simply responded.

"Oh yes. I do. I most truly do."

"But . . . but what about Artful? What would he say?!"

"Screw Artful. He's no fun." Joe cringed at the word choice as Star began a bit of, for lack of a cleaner term, foreplay.

"Hey now! Shouldn't I get a say in the matter?! I have an opinion about this, you know."

"Screw your opinions!"

"For Ryoko's sake, Star, quit saying 'screw'!"

"Fine. Don't want me to speak it? I'll do it."

Joe laughed miserably. There was nothing he could do now but pray to the powers that be that he would come out of this ordeal still being a virgin. (He is only 18, after all. And Christian.) Star Otaku moved in for the kill.

And, as anime luck would have it, Artful stumbled through the doorway. He was looking a bit dishevelled himself, possibly because he had his own little round of fun, but that's another story. Of course, upon looking on the scene, he mandatory bellowed out. "STAR OTAKU!!!"

Everyone stopped for an eternal moment. Then Joe broke the silence by praising the Lord. (Nicolas D. Wolfwood sneezed.) This was quickly followed by Star tossing him aside. Artful ran up to Star completely clueless of anything. "What the Hell happened?!"

Star broke down and bawled. "Oh, sempai, it was awful! He tried to . . . he tried to . . ."

Joe dusted himself off and scoffed. _Yeah. Let _her_ be the poor defenceless victim. My ass._

Artful tried to calm his girlfriend down. "There, there. It's okay." He became rather enraged. "You won't have to worry about Joe Mello anymore."

"Oh, come on, Art!" Joe Mello didn't have to much time to be beside himself. Anime rule #1: Don't touch the guy's girl. Thankfully, Joe's staff was easily accessible and a brief fight scene began. All the while, Star looked on with a silent evil glee. While Joe was constantly dodging, blocking and/or getting hit by Artful's attacks, he noticed the machinating look of his figurative little sister. _She's got to be nuts. What she planning? After we both beat the crap out of each other, she kills us both and then gets all necrophilic on us? Bastard. I have to stop her, but how?_

Artful drew his right fist back. "This is the end for you!!!" This was the chance.

Artful punched hard, but slow enough for Joe to dodge. He got into a good position, then retract his staff so it could fit in the palm of his right hand. He clenched his fist and tucked his arm in, loading a familiar attack. "Time for a new trick," he said before firing. "SHOUTGUN!!"

The copy of Yusuke Urameshi's attack could've easily taken out any normal person, but this was Artful. Of course, he Artfully dodged the multiple blue projectiles and they whizzed harmlessly past him.

Did I say "harmlessly"?

An explosion followed by a loud scream made Artful cringe. He turned around slowly hoping that what he thought he heard hadn't happened. Unfortunately, it did. Joe's Shotgun had delibrately missed Artful in order to get Star.

"No! Star-chan!" Indeed, the authoress layed slain on the floor, her skin burned and her (lack of) clothes seriously messed up. Artful was in even more rage. "YOU BASTARD!!! YOU KILLED HER!!"

Joe dusted himself off. "Do you know how many people I have killed, Artful? Hmm? Well?" He walked over to the closet and started to take off his battered white T-shirt and khakis, knowing that the answer to the question was 0.

"Star's not dead. Hell, she's not even Star."

"Not Star?! Are you blind, man?!"

Joe finished getting redressed. He was now in a fresh set of pants, and a black T-shirt, with an unbuttoned Sanosuke shirt covering it somewhat. "Trust me, Artful. Star Otaku's been on top of me before, and that's not Star Otaku."

_Note to self: Shut up, Joe._

"Pervert!" A flying chair nearly hit Joe in the head.

Joe went over to the body. "Anyway, Star wouldn't come here under her own free will and try and make love to me against _my _will."

"You do have a point. Her crying fit did seem a little odd, but that still doesn't rule out that this body is hers. She could've been mind-controlled or something."

Joe turned his back to the body. "What am I supposed to tell you, huh?"

As he continued to defend his name, unbeknownst to both Joe and Artful, the so-called Star Otaku rose up in anger. She grabbed her lunch bag and raised it above Joe's head, ready to bring the hammer down.

"Why the..." _Uh-oh. Hentai sense. Danger!_ Joe spun around to see an incoming lunch bag. In an incredible burst of God-like speed, he was able to catch the lunch bag with both hands, like some people catch swords. This caught the other two by surprise. With a swift kick to the midsection, Joe separated Star from her trusty lunch bag, sending her into a wall. The impact knocked her out, again. Joe tossed the lunch bag in the air a couple times causually. "So. Now do you believe?" Artful's mouth was agape at Joe's feat. Joe gently picked up Star Otaku's body and laid it on the bed. Then, he picked up the phone and dialed the front desk. He put it on Speaker Phone so Artful could hear.

"Hello? Front desk."

"Say, Miss Val, do you by any chance know if someone's been making that _Midsummernight's Dream _crap that makes people fall in love with you again?"

"Not to my knowledge, no. However, there is a report that some evil versions of Mr. Globie, Blackstar, and Ms. Otaku at large and wreaking havoc in the hotel."

Joe knew he won. "Is that so?" he asked in that ironic fashion. "Well, thank you for the information. Good-bye." He looked with an air of triumph at Artful. "I hate to say 'I told you so.'"

"Yeah, whatever. At least it was a Star Otaku."

"Yeah, but not yours." He picked up Evil Star's body. "Come on. We'd better her lock her away before we get attacked by Tribbles or something."

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

* * * * *

"I've got to admit, this place makes the best seafood pasta I've ever had!"

Persona, Vash, Meryl, and Milly were in the hotel restaurant enjoying lunch. Persona was having the above mentioned dish while Vash was happily devouring a large plate of donuts. Where as the two ladies preferred something on the sweeter side, Meryl was looking over some paperwork as she had her banana sunday while Milly was completely immersed (in mind you sickos!) in her large dish of vanilla pudding.

"Say Persona, would you mind if I asked you a few questions?" Asked Meryl, apparently noticing something odd in her paperwork.

"Not at all." Persona replied. "By all means, ask away."

Nodding, Meryl began. "Well, I was just reviewing your file from the last season and noticed quite a few minor damage claims were filed. I was wondering if you could tell me how they happened."

"Minor damage claims? That's news to me. Fire away."

"Well, here's a claim for bullet damage."

Realization hit Persona like a truck. "Oh, that. Simply put, the main reason for that would be the door of doom."

Meryl nodded. "Okay, and here's one for minor flooding."

"Door of doom."

Meryl looked at Persona with a raised eyebrow, beginning to sense a trend. "Right, and one more for.... Stampede damage?"

Vash froze halfway through a donut as he felt Meryl's eyes fix on him. "What? Did I do something wrong?"

Persona had to chuckle a bit as he watched Vash inch away from the table. "As fun as this is to watch, I feel I should save Vash some pain and say that it wasn't him. It was an actual stampede, of Tauros to be exact."

Vash felt a wave of relief wash over him as Meryl turned off her death gaze. "Oh, well now that that's straightened out, how..."

"Door of doom."

"Ah." Definite trend here. "So then, why exactly did you keep opening the thing?"

"That one's easy." Vash piped up. "He was kind of obsessed at the time to find a place called the Shadow Realm so he could make something called a Millennium Eye. OUCH!"

After removing his fist from the back of Vash's head, Persona continued. "I can speak for myself, thank you very much. But yeah, that's pretty much it. It finally worked too! If you exclude the soul stealing part, I have a full functional Millennium Eye."

Meryl seemed rather stunned at this. "I've heard about these Millennium Items! If I remember correctly, the eye reads minds."

Persona nodded. "Correct you are. Want to see a demonstration?"

Meryl thought about it for a moment. *Why not? After all, what harm could come of it?*

"Okay, lets see how well it works." Persona grinned. "Cool! I haven't gotten to use it much. Now lets see, who would make a good test subject?"

Persona trained the eye on Vash, however....

"Hmmm, nothing but floating stars. Guess I hit him a bit too hard."

Moving on to Milly....

"What the? Nothing, absolutely nothing!"

Meryl sweatdropped. "Yeah, she tends to zone out where pudding is involved."

"I see. Well, moving down along the line, what say I see what's on your mind?"

After hearing that, Meryl put one thought at the forefront of her mind.

"Okay now, you're thinking...." Persona had to sweatdrop at what he saw. "Probe any further than this and die. Well, seeing as how you asked so nicely, how can I refuse?"

"I thought you might see it my way. So what now? We've run out of minds."

Persona looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. "Are you kidding? It's a full room here, I'll just hop from person to person."

With that said, Persona began to scan the room. "Let's see here, Keitaro's thinking of heading to the hot spring for a soak. That's a disaster waiting to happen. There's Vegeta, and from what I'm seeing, he's starving. Looks like the kitchen staff's going to be pulling some overtime. That's odd."

That caught Meryl's attention. "What's odd?"

"For some reason, Ranma is feeling an overwhelming sense of dread."

No sooner did the words leave Persona's mouth when Ranma was doused with cold water from above, but as we all know, that wouldn't be the end of the story. Right after being soaked, Happosai dropped from the ceiling and groped the now female Ranma.

"The hell!?" Ranma-chan yelled. "I thought we left you back on Earth you disgusting pervert!"

"You did, but how could I stay down there knowing that these were up here?" The perverted master said while nuzzling Ranma-chan's breasts.

Now in a perfect world, Happosai would be tossed through the ceiling from which he came, but as we all know, this isn't a perfect world.

"AHHHHHHH!!! MY EYES ARE BURNING!!!"

That caught the attention of everyone in the immediate vicinity as the turned to see Persona writhing on the floor clutching at his head. As it turned out, when Happosai glomped Ranma-chan he took up the space where Persona was focusing his Millennium Eye, allowing the author a good view into the old letch's mind.

"What happened to him?" Asked the closest person to Persona's table, who just happened to be Yugi Moto.

Meryl could only shrug. "I guess you could call it a Millennium Eye backfire."

"A what!?" No one knew the impact of those words more than Yugi. Well, except maybe Pegasus.

"Brain unclean! BRAIN UNCLEAN!" Persona was moaning, as he began to pull at the side of his face hidden by his long bang of hair.

As people were wondering what the author was doing, Persona tore his Millennium Eye from his face and threw it to the floor. The other authors in the vicinity could guess at what happened after they saw the Millennium item.

It was what happened next that caught them all off guard. Persona had grabbed Vash's gun from the gunslingers belt and drew a bead on the forsaken artifact.

"There are some things in this life that are best left unseen!" The silver haired author yelled as he fired at the item, shattering it into millions of pieces.

"Sorry about that, but it needed to be done." Persona said to the crowd who had gathered. But as he looked up he noticed that everyone was looking past him, a look of horror etched on their faces.

As Persona turned around to see what the problem was, that look of horror found a home on his face as well.

The window was cracked.

The bullet Persona fired to shatter his Millennium Eye had ricocheted off the floor and struck the window, the one thing separating them from the deadly vacuum of space.

"So, what now?" Fetch asked with baited breath.

Even as the question was asked, the crack in the window began to spider-web and grow larger by the second. Persona knew the answer to that one.

"Now? That's easy. RUN LIKE YOU'VE NEVER RUN BEFORE!!!"

There was a mad rush for the exit of the restaurant as the window continued to weaken. Everyone managed to clear the area just as the window shattered, exposing the room to the void of space.

A few seconds after the window shattered the hotel's emergency automatic sealing system activated, cutting off the restaurant from the rest of the hotel and sealing the breach.

"Man, that was close!" Persona said as he released a sigh of relief, only catch his breath as he noticed the large group of people who had just evacuated the restaurant stare at him with looks of burning anger.

"You just killed our only source of food, you shumck!" Yelled a very irate Vegeta.

"Oh crap."

*****

"So, how is he?"

Vash, Meryl, and Milly were in the infirmary to check on Persona's condition after receiving that righteous beat down at the hands of a very pissed (and hungry) mob.

"In two words, messed up." Said Ami Mizuno, as she looked over the author's chart. "He's got a broken nose, two cracked ribs, and a separated shoulder."

Vash winced. "Ouch, can we see him?"

Ami shook her head. "I'm afraid not, he's still in surgery."

"SURGERY!?" The trio yelled.

Meryl was a little stunned at that. "I didn't think those injuries were bad enough to need surgery!"

"Oh, they weren't." Ami replied. "That was the reason for the surgery." She said, pointing to a Saiyan style boot that had 'Return to Vegeta' written on the inside lip.

"That was lodged in Persona's, umm, hind quarters. So don't be surprised if he walks a little funny for the next few days."

If there was ever a time for a mass group sweatdrop, this was it.

* * * *

DAY 21

The morning began early at the cafeteria, as a large "closed" sign was placed on the doors that are locked shut. Some hungry authors groaned about not getting any breakfast (well, probably they didn't notice that some floors had vending machines that sold frozen meals including breakfast dishes) while inside, the restaurant has been turned into a true Iron Chef style set, still dark. The kitchen in the middle, with the men on the Earth side, and the women on the Moon side. The tasters' table would face toward Mars, and the verdict announced facing toward the sun.

Inside the kitchen, the two sides are making their final preparations. For the men, it meant deciding on their menu...

"So we've got a giant block of tofu...what's next?" Amarah began.

"Isn't it obvious? We've got to cook five knockout Chinese dishes!" Shel replied.

"But what are we going to cook?" Konatsu asked.

"That's a good question...maybe we should refer to So-An's book..." Lei-On replied.

"But doesn't Meirii and Siro have it?" Shel asked.

"Well, we've got to go fast...I think the women are already getting going..." Tenkawa added.

And indeed the women were...however, they were busy doing something else...arguing. Their tofu block damaged, but yet still edible...there had to be something that could be done, and blaming the men wasn't exactly the answer right about now..."

"How could those men sink so low?" Chi Chi screamed.

"They have some nerve to wreck our block of tofu like that!" Lita added.

"Well...maybe...we could make another one..." Shinobu meekly replied.

"It's too late for that...we've got to get preparing our ingredients now because we'll only get an hour to cook once the thing gets underway." Kasumi smiled, but even she seemed a little agitated.

"So we're just going to wing it?" Brock added.

"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" The four cried in unison.

"Why me?!"

Back with the men, the cooking was finally underway. Shel and Lei-On were carving and slicing up the vegetables, Tenkawa and Konatsu delicately divvying up the tofu, while Amarah checked over some of the meat products that they would need, and the sauces.

"I need some soy sauce!" Amarah shouted.

"On the shelf!" Tenkawa replied.

"Let's kick it up!" Shel shouted excitedly.

Back with the women...

"Well, they seem to already be underway...should we be worried?" Lita asked worriedly.

"Don't you worry, ladies, I've got just the plan." Chi Chi replied.

"What is it?" Shinobu asked.

The five gathered around, and listened as Chi Chi whispered her idea into their ears. While some cringed in horror (mostly Shinobu, whilst Kasumi just seemed to nod her head), but some just smiled evilly.

"I like that idea." Lita replied.

"But isn't it not fair?" Shinobu asked.

"All's fair in love and war." Brock added to conclude.

The battle continues...

* * * *

In all the hotel's infinite capacity, it was mainly a hub of chaotic activity. A building that floated on its side, on the Moon. That was insane enough! But it was also a transport hub. Part of the hotel had a docking port, taking in guests as they arrived from their ships, or other forms of interdimensional space and time travel.

Fortunately, it was repaired after the first day damage Persona dealt out.

Authors were there, of course. And anime characters too.

It wasn't really a surprise to have many people going in and out, dropping in unexpectedly.

Well, there was one type of guest that everyone wasn't expecting...

A strange rocket ship had just docked itself at the port, and a lot of the staff were confused as to what to do. None of the ship's designs registered from any anime they knew. It did have the markings of being from Earth, and it was a fairly modern spacecraft.

All the people in the area at the time gathered to make a large crowd, and they wondered who was in such a ship?

A hatch on the side opened, letting out a hiss of depressurized air...

Everyone held their breath; first contact was about to be made.

"I, Koshi Rikdo, hereby give this ship permission to land and be refueled!" shouted the bespectacled man, who exited the ship to some unheard fanfare.

All in the area sweatdropped.

As they stared on, Koshi Rikdo was joined by another man, who was similar in appearance.

They were both men with brown hair and thick glasses. Very Keitaro-ish. Well, one man more so than the other.

Those who were familiar with Love Hina blinked.

"KEN AKAMATSU-SAMA?!"

Akamatsu-sama looked at the gaggle of people surrounding them. He squinted at Star.

"Shinobu-chan?"

The authoress blushed. "Ah... Ie, Akamatsu-sama. I'm Star Otaku, an authoress."

He still smiled. "Oh."

"Ah... What are you and Koshi Rikdo-sama, famous creator of Excel Saga, doing here?" she asked politely.

Rikdo-sama executed a grand pose, and the unheard fanfare of Il Palazzo's theme filled the air.

"We are now filthy rich manga artists who have had their works translated into anime and are living off the royalties. What else could we do with our money? Save it? No! We've been outcast and poor long enough! It's time we spent our money on grander things! Like women and machines!"

Akamatsu-sama sweatdropped slightly. "Ah... This trip was rather his idea. The last time I invested in some mode of transportation, it was hijacked from me."

Nervous murmurs went around, debating whether or not to tell the Love Hina creator his own characters were  
here.

The two manga artists then stopped and realized where they were. They were on the Moon, and in a hotel full of people! Rather, a room of fanfic authors...

Rikdo-sama looked at the crowd as well, scrutinizing them. An evil glint formed in his eye, or rather his glasses, but stopped. "Eh, damn dirty otaku, I wouldn't be able to sue you if I tried, seeing as you all don't have very much money."

"Hey..." those who took offense started.

Akamatsu-sama shook his head at his traveling partner's Excel-like ignorance and idiocy.

"We seem to be intruding. We should go, but first, we need to refuel our ship."

Being polite, Star spoke up before these great creators. "Ah... would you gentlemen like to use the self-service? It's very easy to refuel here..."

"HA!" Rikdo-sama laughed derisively. "Are you kidding us?!"

The authoress was embarrassed and blushed red at these respected gentlemen. "Oh, I'm sorry."

Chromus spoke up this time, being the spokesperson for the hotel. "You're the creators of two favourite anime! Both of you deserve better. I'm sure the staff would be happy to give your ship the full service!"

Akamatsu-sama held up a hand and shook his head, refusing politely. "Such assistance is still beneath us."

"Well... what kind of service do you take?" Chromus asked.

"FANSERVICE!" the two artists said together. Actually, Akamatsu-sama simply said it while Rikdo-sama bellowed it.

At that moment, all the other hatches on the ship opened, and Rikdo's female creations crawled out in an assortment of costumes, straight out of any male's fantasy.

Maid outfit, school girl fukus, school girl gym clothes, office lady business suits, nurse uniforms, kogal high fashion, priestess robes, breezy sundresses, and the good old fashion tight t-shirt and shorty shorts.

There were the Aasu sisters and Kobayashi Poemi herself of "Puni Puni Poemi", and the femmes Excel, Hyatt, The ACROSS Girls, and both Ropponmatsus of "Excel Saga".

This harem-like menagerie immediately set to work, washing the ship and pumping rocket fuel while many appreciative males watched the sight.

* * * *

It was total Hell.

No matter which way he turned, there was nothing but destruction and chaos. What made things worse was that the cause of this great upheval didn't even bat an eyelash. They went right on doing what they were doing. As Joe Mello bore witness to the new form of Hell, he couldn't help but clench his fist and get enraged. _All these people have fallen, inculding some of the strongest people I know, and all they can think about is _fanservice_?!?! _He started to power up. _I can't take this. I refuse to take this. This madness will end NOW!!!_

For those of you not aware with Joe Mello's Universal Character Rating System, it is simply a generic form of gauging power. If you were reading a stat sheet, a character's "power level" is the same as the base life. There are two major (non-proportional) benchmarks when gauging power level. The first is 1,000, which is the starting power for most Senshi. The other is 2,500 which is roughly Super Saiyan, Level 1. With the help of some borrwed Little Serenity ki, Joe powered up to a UCRS level of 3,150, or, in other words, a beefy SSJ1. It was then that he was finally able to let out his anger.

"SHOTGUN!!!"

Joe aimed his Spirit Grenades at the ship which Rikdo's and Akamatsu's minions were serving and let loose a Hellfire's salvo. The attack hit, causing a massive explosion. Surprisingly enough, there was only cosmetic damage to the ship. However, there was also some cosmetic damage to the girls. There were two types of anime girls: those that were partially dressed, and those who just wore bumps and brusies. Either way, they all became unconscious for some reason or another. It was also a surprise that all of the men (that were still fully aware of the situation) stopped bleeding.

As Joe Mello, dropped the blonde look, and smiled to himself. _Figures, _he thought. _They're fully exposed, so the "thrill" is gone_.

Akamatsu could not think of anything to say, except for a very Mutsumiish "Oh my."

Rikdo, on the other hand, could. "You bastard! What in heck's name were you thinking?! Are you trying to defile anime?!"

Joe Mello donned his shades as he made his speech. "No, it is you who is defiling anime. What you have done is degrading not only to women, but to all human beings. You think that just because you've created a slightly popular half-decent anime you can broadcast your thoughtless acts of randomness and sex?!"

Akamatsu absorbed all this in. "It looks like we have a stern critic, Rikdo-sama."

Rikdo was a tad miffed. "Half decent?! Thoughtless!?! Degrading!?!?"

"ENOUGH!" Joe powered up again. "You are lewd and insensitive and I will end this madness now!" Joe drew his weapon and lunged at Rikdo like a pouncing tiger at Mach 1. He delivered a heavy mallet smash which sent Rikdo flying into a nearby wall. He bounced off the wall and onto the ground, leaving a dent in both places As soon as Joe was able to stop his forward progress, his switched to his blade and jumped over Akamatsu. As he landed, he began to proclaim his attack. "_Yugamu Tsurugi Ryu._" He landed and attacked. "_Kiritsukeru kitsunenomen_" (very loosely, Mask of the Fox Slash)

There was a brief pause in which nothing happened. Then, Joe finally sheathed his blade. A moment after, Akamatsu's clothing fell off in shreds, leaving nothing but a pair of white Tama-chan (i.e. the turtle) boxers. While Joe was leaving, pleased with his work, and while Akamatsu was wondering what work Joe had done, Rikdo had gotten up. During this madness, he had noticed one important thing about Joe's tirade.

"You there! Stop!"

Joe unsheathed his blade once more. "You enjoy your ignorance, don't you?"

"It would be far from ignorant for me to notice your sword technique. _Yugamu Tsurugi Ryu_, isn't it? You dare to mock two legendary creators for their sexual intentions when you yourself perform The Style of the Perverted Sword?!"

The blade was now 5 mm from Rikdo's jugular. "My form of perversion is not yours. While I may suggest, I do it with honor and taste. What you consider perverted is just plain sickening!" With that, Joe unleashed another Kitsunenomen. While Rikdo was left in an undershirt and Puchu boxers, (t00 |\/|u[h b33r) he was also badly bruised and collapsed. Joe powered down for the final time and began to walk away. He called back to the _Love Hina_ creator. "You had best refuel and leave quick. Or else." All of a sudden, Joe's right leg visibly increased in muscle mass. Where Akamatsu was coming from, he could tell that the author vigilante meant business. As Joe headed out of the loading dock, he presumptuously thought to himself, _So this is what it feels like to be blacklisted_.

* * * *

A gaggle of Nurse Joys ran into the hospice, where Ami and Mistukake were enjoying a slight reprieve ever since the sex wars.

Both healers hopped to action, and were shocked to see the sudden admittance of so many young men into the small clinic.

"What happened?!" Ami exclaimed. "Are they all right?"

Mistukake then pointed at the bloody rags. "Where did this happen?"

"At the docking port!" reported one Joy.

"An industrial accident?" inquired Ami.

The Joy shook her head.

"Massive simultaneous nosebleeds."

Two gurneys were being wheeled together, side by side, and in an almost sweet sight, Star and Artful were holding hands between them. It would have been sweet of they were in a better condition...

The pair's faces were quite red and flush, and their eyes comically swirly, and they kept their mouths agape, muttering to themselves over and over again.

"Kawaii... kawaii..."

* * * *

At the theatre, there was a huge crowd. The concern of Mutsumi's fainting spell had caused major concern for the Love Hina cast that Naru momentarily forgot that she hated the men here.

With the men at council, it was a dramatic atmosphere as men and women watched…including two teams of Iron Chefs.

"My son's going to win this game and bring back the money!" Chi Chi sneered at the men's team who were sitting on the other side.

Shel, on the other hand, was looking cool. "I'm sure you're mistaken, madam. I believe it will be Ah Tsing who will take the championship."

"You've got some nerve!"

"Oh yeah? You are the one who started this whole debate in the first place."

Chi Chi huffed, as she took her seat amongst the rest of her team of cooks. "Chi Chi, are you sure about saying that? Goten has two votes already." Lita informed the team leader.

"WHAT?" The head chef shouted back.

And as the last vote fell, all colour drained from the Son family matriarch's face, as she saw the lettering on the final ballot...'GOTEN'.

"Looks like we win." Shel laughed, as he headed out.

As the crowd filed out, Chi Chi remained dazed and completely out of it.

"CHI CHI!" Shinobu shrieked, before the head chef passed out...

For tonight, the competition was cancelled, for Chi-chi to recover…

* * * *

Goten wasn't a happy chappy, the poor kid seemed to have been crying since he was eliminated, much to Jayson's poor ears.

However, the first thing he saw was a distraught mother, along with his big brother Gohan, his future wife Videl and his best friend Trunks, with an indifferent Vegeta and a smiling Bulma with them.

"MY SOOONNNNNN! WAHHHHHH!"

And was given the mother of all bear hugs by Chi-Chi.

"Mom…mom, I'm fine, please you're cwushing me…" But Goten had to laugh, he missed his mother.

"Sorry about how you went sport…" Gohan said. "…I thought you would have gone all the way myself though…"

"Thanks big bro!" Goten said, still a bit disappointed, but obviously not as much as what happened.

"Hey, it's been a while Goten, I need a good workout, none of the guys here are strong enough.." Trunks said as the two friends got together, and headed for something to eat. The others followed.

The thought of food for her son made Chi-chi's passion come back…

"OH, AND TELL THOSE MEN THAT TOMORROW, CHI-CHI SON IS GOING TO KICK THEIR SORRY…"

"Chichi, your son has just returned, language please…" Bulma said.

"Oops, sorry."

* * * *

The night was dark, the Earth was cast, the Moon was quiet.

Wait, the moon was quiet?

It was, because it was 3.00am Standard time, and only the most committed of people were still awake, watching subbed episodes of Azumanga Daioh or Full Metal Panic. Some logged into various sites to see who was winning in other reality shows, such as Anime-mazing Race, Animole and Roomies 3. (And also wondering how Yukino can be a host and a contestant, how Ami can be healing here and a dead cert in another, and how Kiyone was in one show and just got eliminated in another…)

However, one had finally come back to his show.

A quick swipe of the card and he had gained access to the locked doors. Sure, the moon may not be as warm as Hawaii, but sometimes it best to go somewhere where you won't be sacrificed to the angry gods every 5 minutes.

"Ah, it's good to be home."

Descendant Of The Dragon entered AS5 Hotel, incognito. O.K, it was late at night and nobody would have seen him anyway.

However, it hadn't been the best of times for the young maestro, as reports from Jayson Gold had kept him occupied about what was happening, such as screaming, destruction, the sex wars, the old bit of Persona destruction, etc.

'Sure Chris, it's all fine and dandy." DotD sighed. It just proved the old saying, 'If you want something done right do it yourself…' He quickly thought about the old AA. Maybe Adam should have heeded that…

Never mind. He was here to get one last bit of info from Jayson. He quickly logged on to his personal file from his laptop (with a chibi Mutsumi and Naru on the top)…

…and was stunned by the information Jayson had sent him this time. It was all based on one subject.

Kelly.

Shots of Kelly hurting Shinobu on the early days, (a crime worse than death in otaku fan's minds) Kelly screaming on the show when she was getting hit on, Kelly getting jealous whenever anyone asked about Jayson, Kelly seemingly trying to sabotage the tofu (of course, Jayson neglected to show his involvement)…

…then of Kelly forcing Chromus to go back via some sort of time-travel capabilities to send Ichino back. Jayson and Chris had informed him that it was Kelly's mistake which brought Ichino in the first place, and if it hadn't been for Tom Greenville pretty much threatening her (well, singing to her), she probably still would not have got Casey's family here to the hotel.

This was coupled with the fact that Kelly seemed to not want Chromus to do anything, as evident with the struggle of getting Konatsu here. Especially when considered that other authors and hosts had their characters from other animes and even games, or their own imaginations.

Kelly's reasoning was that 'She isn't even in the game!' Considering who else was here, that reasoning was pretty far fetched.

Then DotD smiled.

That was about to change.

He had a hunch about the next day. Poor Mutsumi may have to withdrawl…but with a quick think, he got an idea to make all parties happy.

First, a cheque book. Then an e-mail, and finally, somewhere to get to the future. Washu's here somewhere…

Someone was coming down. 'Crap, they can't see me like this!'

DotD tried to hide, but it was no use. His laptop was still on flashing, and whoever came down would obviously…

"tsukuri mashou… tsukuri mashou…" groaned one Adam Pulver. 

"Raspberry heaven, I'm coming back to you…" groaned one Chromus. 

"Fushigi na… tobira no moji wa SORA… MIMI CAKEY!…" shouted one Joe Mello after Adam had cajoled the two to a marathon night of Azumanga Daioh. (He'd needed something off his mind after being mercilessly attacked by 'Star', or in Joe's case, being attacked by nearly everyone) Needless to say, they were sleepwalking tongue-twisters in Japanese for the rest of the night.

After the problem was sorted, DotD sighed and returned to business at hand.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

* * * *

DAY 22

Kelly's got up ready to take her space as rightful host of the show. After all, she was the star. She was the real looker of the show (although about 6 of the girls on the island may have something to say about that…), she was the witty one, and she was so…

"THERE SHE IS!"

…dead.

"LET ME AT HER! I'LL KILL HER!"

"Trust me, you're not the first to want to…" a male voice said, as Jayson Gold and Chromus had the hard job of restraining said person wanting to kill Kelly. A familiar voice to say the least.

"Eep!" Kelly screamed. "A ghost!"

"I'M NOT A GHOST! THE NAMES ICHINO YANAGIDA, THE PERSON YOU SENT BACK JUST BEFORE AKARI WAS COMING HERE! YOU BI…"

"Calm down Itchan! Killing Kelly as gratifying as it may be won't help your chances…besides, if all else fails and no-one takes the money, you can just wait here and…" Chromus smiled, slitting his throat.

Ichino smiled evilly. "Oh, that's a good idea…"

Kelly nearly wet her panties. "Mommy…"

Jayson chuckled. "Well Kel. I'm afraid this news maybe a surprise, but in fact, the boss has decided on something. He's decided to offer a quarter of a million dollars to anyone who wishes to go now and come home. It means they'll forfeit a spot on the jury and to win the game, but at least they will have some money. And Ichino here is our replacement if that happens. Yes, it's a girl, so why are you moaning?" Kelly said.

"Well, she could fit on the men's side as well…" Kelly said.

Not smart.

"ARE YOU SAYING I'M NOT FEMININE?!" Ichino said.

"That's for sure…but still…" Happosai launched himself into the air out of nowhere…

….and was senting blasting off by an Ichino Osakan roundhouse.

'It's O.K. With that temper, she won't last long if she does get on.' Kelly thought. She sighed. "O.K…get on the boat."

Jayson nodded. And smiled.

"Oh, one last thing…Donnie's rep is doing the next episode, so don't bother staying overnight." Jayson left with a smile.

And Kelly left with a curse.

* * * *

If there was any time to realise there was a conspiracy in the hotel, this was it.

GOTEN?!! FRIGGIN GOTEN!

There was no way in hell that 90% of the voters would know that Goten would have been eliminated. Goten was one of the favourites to survive, heck, one of the favourites to win, full stop. Not since Michelle's elimination has anyone with such low odds been eliminated.

There is something going on…he had sent Tom to spy on Chromus after trying to fit the pieces together, whilst Sam was busy ready to research his movements since they got here.

Jim was preparing for the next episode of Anime Survivor of course, so he got the next two days off.

And he could already tell who was the next to go, just from the 3 people getting votes already…all Seiya. He shortened his odds as much as he could without appearing paranoid, but he knew it was a matter of time.

"You seem troubled, my friend."  
  
"What the…" Donnie said.

White sliver like hair, a familiar face.

"Bakura?"

Bakura was talking 'normally' (e.g. sons Millennium Ring influence) towards the host. Donnie still had a bad feeling though…

"Please no more betting…"

Bakura simply waved him off. "Oh no, I'm not into that. However, I do have a proposition about this mystery prediction racket…"

"Huh?"

And then his voice changed.

"... I could solve this mystery for you. For a price of course."

Donnie at first wondered if he should panic, but Bakura continued talking.

"You see…mystic energies are coming from a young girl by the names of Raye Hino. Maybe she is the one you should talk to…or maybe you should find out where Chromus has been. Has he been 'jumping ship' so to speak…"

Donald considered. Bakura did seem to be in tune with these things. At the moment, he only assumed that Chromus may have gone perhaps to get 'revenge' so to speak, and he knew he was close to the Hoshino girl which gave him so much grief two seasons ago.

Also, Bakura about Raye. From what Donnie knew was that she was psychic, and that she was running a fortune telling booth somewhere on here. Was it more than…

Nah, she isn't that powerful. Was it a front for something more?

Perhaps Bakura could help him...

Donald paused. Now how could Bakura help him? Bakura was a nice quite young man without any thought of treachery or evil... Except for his Millenium Ring!

"You!"

"Well?"

"Sam warned me about you, Dark spirit! Any help you give me will lead to evil! And I will not have it!"

"I am truely sorry you feel that way. But then, I'd probably do a better job in your business than you OR your opponent EVER could. And, heck, it'll give me the chance to get rid of this goody-two-shoes. And with you so highly placed..."

With an evil snicker, Bakura's ring glowed and he blasted a memory eraser technique towards the hapless human…

…which came as a surprise when Donnie somehow dispelled it.

"What trickery is this mortal?" Bakura screamed.

"You forget. The same powers that make us valuable, also make us harder to defeat." As to show evidence, Donald was now subtly glowing with a light-gray sheen.

In his left hand, a staff of white ash. And in his right, a thin Sabre. But the sheen around it and the hand holding it was medium-gray, and the space around it slightly distorted.

Donald had no illusions, though. He sensed that that shot was merely a fraction of the ring's power. Against its full power, his low-level spells wouldn't be of much help. And since his Sabre was from the Real World, he doubted that he could break the Millenium Ring with it. Plus, with powers that strong, he didn't dare use his Pokemon, (who were only in their 30's in Level,) for fear that they may be destroyed or corrupted. His only hope was that Uncle or Raye could sense the Ring's Dark Chi and investigate.

"Not bad…but you can't stop me!"

Bakura sent wave after wave of mind probing, which Donnie tried to block, but it was getting tougher and tougher. Almost like a match against Pegasus again.

Suddenly…

"EVIL SPIRIT, BEGONE!"

An ofuda came flying in…

…nailing Donnie on the nose.

"Heh, oops!" Raye sweatdropped before looking at Bakura. "Ah, the real target!"

"Not so fine…his mind will soon belong…"

He didn't finish his sentence as an anti-oni scroll was just inches from his face. "So, the demon that resides in you is afraid of this…" Raye said.

Bakura growled, but eventually backed off.

'You may have blocked me today, but you won't block me forever.' He thought as he retreated.

Raye saw the booth manager, and rival in her eyes, and sighed.

"I'll get Ami." Raye said, feeling a little guilty about that, but still…

* * * *

Donnie wasn't going to be the first patient there though.

"Mutsumi-san!" Keitaro screamed, seeing the anaemic girl get through thanks to Joy and Mitsukake. Naru temporary forgot she hated him to join him with Motoko, Su, Shinobu, Mitsune and Sara, being shipped into the ward for a check up.

"Is she O.K doctor?" Naru asked.

"She will be fine." Mitsukake opened his left hand around a half-conscious Mutsumi…

…who suddenly felt a warm glow over the power of the Suzaku Warrior.

"W-what are you doing?" Motoko said, unsure of what the doctor was doing.

"It's O.K. He's healing her. He can use this power once a day…how do you think Keitaro always is fine every day he leaves here after his daily bruisings?" Joy said.

(Somewhere, Akatamusu-sensei said something about 'Love Hina physics' before continuing his discussing on why Mutsumi was the hotter anaemic girl between her and Hyatt with Rikdo-sensei.)

"Wow…" Su said. "Can I use you for my creations?"

Mitsukake chuckled. "Not today little one. I leave her now in Ami's capable hands." Mitsukake said to the young physician who blushed.

And Mutsumi woke up.

"Ara…where am I?" Mutsumi said as Naru clutched her friends' hand.

"You're at the hotel Mutsumi-san. I'm afraid you got too sick to play the game…" Naru said.

"…so your friends on the island decided to send you back, although you do have a prize." Motoko said.

"That's right! $250,000! Ne, Mutsumi-san, can I ask you a favour?" Kitsune said with a gleeful smile.

"Not today Kitsune!" Keitaro said. "Are you O.K Mutsumi?"

The girl's innocent face and smile followed by a nod was in the affirmative. "But the others? Kiyone-san? Ukyo-san? Jade and Casey-chan?"

"They'll be fine Mutsumi. Just worry about yourself. You were…amazing out there. How you did it with your illness is incredible..." Naru said. And smirked. "…especially a lot better than this baka last term…"

"Thanks for reminding me…" Keitaro said.

"…seriously, we felt you could have won as well. For now, Mutsumi, well done." Naru finished.

"Thank you all…" Mutsumi said as Ami admininstred the cold compress on her forehead.

It was a shame…but Mutsumi was sad about not going so far. She wanted to see Ah Tsing again and thank him for the herbal brew…she wanted to see if he would win, or if not him, one of her female friends.

But for now, it was time to rest.

She deserved it.

* * * *

Even though it looked like Tristan Taylor was growing more and more expendable, Joey Wheeler was not about to stop. Not when he was one step away from total victory over his opponent. He put on his best shirt and pants (Laugh all you want. They actually are nice clothes.) and even put on a tie. Of course, you can't expect to be taken seriously with a Snoopy tie on, but this is Joey we're talking about.

Anyway, after one last look in the mirror, Joey went to the mantle of his room's fireplace to get his wallet. He opened it up to the picture of his ever-enduring sister, Serenity. He communicated to her once more in prayer-thought. _I hate ta do this to ya, sis, but I'm really sorry. I'm sure dere'll be someone else for you_.

Just then,

"AH-CHOO!!"

"You okay, Joe? You aren't sick, are you?"

"I'm okay. Hey, you sneezed, too, Yugi."

"Never mind that and make your move."

"All right. Hit me. . . . Ha! 21! Now you owe me 8 Legacy of Darkness 1st edition boosters!"

"Darn it, Joe Mello! Why'd you have to pick Blackjack as the game and not Duel Monsters?!"

Getting back to our story, Joey ended this round of sentiment, put his wallet in his pants and left to meet his so-called date.

* * * * *

Miaka stood in the lobby, anxiously awaiting this "mystery contact" that called her the other day. While it was probably some sort of trap, anything that involved checking up on Chiriko and Yui was a good thing. She eventually sat down in a chair and tried to relax for a few minutes before a blond-haired boy wearing a Snoopy tie exited the elevators and headed toward him. "Are you the one I'm supposed to talk to?"

Joey extended his hand to shake. "Yep. Dat's me. My name's Joey."

"Oh yes, the boy from last night! Hello Joey." Miaka nervously extended her own hand and the two shook. As they did so, some thoughts crossed their mind.

Miaka: _His hand feels so warm and comforting. Maybe this isn't a trap._

Joey: _Whoa. Soft hands. And cute, too. Man, this is gonna be sweet!_

Joey cleared his throat. "Shall we get going?"

Miaka nodded. "Might as well."

As the two went to Joey's chosen destination Miaka asked a very good question. "Where are we going?"

"Oh. I know this girl who could help you find your friends. She's got some pretty neat powers and stuff."

"I see. Are they magic?"

"Yeah. Got all that ESP stuff, too."

Miaka was interested. Perhaps Joey could be of more help than either of them could've ever imagined.

* * * * *

They reached the end of the line. Miaka became depressed when she saw the sign. RAYE'S PSYCHIC HANDLING! PREDICTIONS OF ANIME SURVIVOR! "But this is just a Betting Booth."

Joey turned to her, and defended himself with all sincerity. "Yeah, but there's more to it than that. Sure, this may be a place where some morons come to get their picks for who goes off next, but Raye is restricted to just that stupid game!" His voice grew in vindictiveness. "You just gotta trust me, Miaka. I'm sure she'll help us find your friends! I just know it!"

Miaka had to take a moment. What, at first, looked like to be just another plot to exploit her had know turned into a heartfelt search. Miaka smiled warmly at Joey's soliloquy. "All right," she said. "Let's go in."

Joey was jubilant. :"ALL RIGHT!!!" he exclaimed as he shot his fist in the air. "We're goin in!" As they entered the fortune telling center, more thoughts raced across their minds.

Miaka: _I could never believe that such a kind-hearted person would ever willingly come to my aid like this._

Joey: _I guess all those years with you's finally payin off, Sis. To heck with Tristan. This Miaka girl needs me._

Tamahome: _I wonder if this girl's predictions are for real_.

Joey's eyes widened. Tamahome was in front of them, getting his regular AS5 prediction. That was bad. What was worse was that he turned around to notice the happy couple. Miaka, too, was startled, and what made it even more worse was when Miaka and Joey simultaneously realized that they were still holding hands. (Well, Joey switched hands before they left the lobby, but that's beside the point.) The Suzaku immeadiately went into "Jealous Boyfriend" mode, got up and went in Joey's face.

"You know, you Duelists are becoming a pain in my Axe Raider." Tama-san said with surprising calm.

Joey laughed nervously. "Well . . . uh . . . you see . . . I was only tryin to help her . . . cause . . ."

The next sounds that were heard were of Tamahome throwing Joey out of Raye's establishment, then kicking him into a wall. Miaka ran out to see if Joey was okay.

"Look, Mommy! Puppies!" he proclaimed in reference to the Marmadukes dancing around his noggin

All right, so the answer was no. Tamahome was feeling quite proud of himself, until. . .

"_Malvagità!_"

"But Zoe! I . . ."

Too late. A heavy hammer smash from his love sent the unlucky J.P. flying, and crashing, into Tamahome, resulting in a double "Orrroooo" (Must be an old school thing) Miaka left the scene confused, but knowledgeable that all is fair in love, war, and hentai smashing.

* * * *

It was a devastating loss. From 3-1 to 4-3, it was a hard hit for the bar owner from Burnaby...only hours after Vancouver's devastating loss in Game 7 to Minnesota, Persona was back at the club, drinking his heart out like most Vancouverites were after such a humiliating come-from-behind from victory by the 6th seed. As the disappointed and powerless Vash the Stampede, Milly Thompson and Meryl Strife looked on, the owner of the Survivor Club continued to down drink after drink, trying to drown out the sorrow of his home team losing. However, in another corner of the club, another person was also drinking heavily...but this time, in celebration.

"AND HERE'SH TO THE OTTAWA SHENATORSH!" A certain cowboy-hatted and cloaked man slurred. "MAY THE GODS BLESSH DEM WIT VICTORIE OVER JOISEY!"

"Globie...er...Dragon, don't you think you've had a couple drinks too much?" A worried blue-haired authoress shouted. "You know Persona is still there, and he's...um...listening."

"SHO WHAT? IT'S OTTAWA ALL DA WAYSH, BABY!" The man slurred back.

"I really don't care much about this anyway..." An indifferent Artful commented.

"Oh, sempai, who cares? Let's just help Dragon celebrate for his Ottawa Senators...please?" Star replied, all doe-eyed. "Besides, all of our drinks are on the house!"

"Oh, all right....just tonight."

"Yay!"

Hearing that, the hatted man flagged down Vash, who was washing some glasses. "HEYYY VASHIE, ANOTHER ROUND OF DAT GOOD CANADJUN SCHTUFF OVER HERESH!"

Vash sighed, and slid a couple more drinks down the bar table to the extremely intoxicated man, who was still chanting "OT-TA-WA! OT-TA-WA! OT-TA-WA!" at ear-splitting volume. This obviously finally crossed the line for Persona, who lumbered down the table.

"Hey bud-dy! Mind if you celebrate somewhere elsh?" Persona slurred.

"Not on yer life! Ottawa rulesh the world!" The figure replied.

"So they are, huh? Well, you'vesh got a bigggg mouth! Let'sh duel!"

"Fine by me!"

Immediately, the two Duel Disks were pulled out, but before anything could be done, the two fell down, unable to stand up and passed out from all of that alcohol. Cue mass facefaults and sweatdropping, and you've got the scene...

* * * *

DAY 23

The air was tense. 

Foreheads were sweating.

Both sides looked upon each other with extreme disdain. With the stakes so high, this was truly a game of winner-take-all.

"WELCOME, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, TO OUR VERY SPECIAL IRON CHEF BATTLE! TWO TEAMS OF FIVE HAVE GATHERED HERE AT THE RESTAURANT TO DECIDE WHICH GENDER WILL TRULY BE THE BEST IN THE CULINARY WORLD!" Kelly announced, a la Takeshi Kaga.

"I am your host, Jayson Gold, and today's theme ingredient has already been decided...TOFU! So, let's bring on the teams!" Jayson added.

"She hails from West City, and she's rarin' to rock and roll, it's Chi Chi and the Crockettes!" Kelly declared, as the women rushed out from the kitchen in a puff of smoke.

"And he hails from France, and they're ready to go, it's Shel and the Destroyers!" Jayson shouted, as the men in the crowd cheered their entrance.

Once the smoke was cleared, a platform in front of the cooking arena arose from seemingly out of nowhere, and the leading duo of Jayson and Kelly appeared. Both of them were glaring at each other, as if they were about to kill one another.

"LET'S GET READY TO CRUMBLE!" Kelly shouted.

"Lame!" Jayson mocked, as he banged the giant gong to begin the cooking.

The two teams rushed to their sides, and the cooking began. The audience looked on as Shel's and Chi-Chi's sides literally began to cook up a storm...and in less than an hour's time, the food was ready to be tasted.

"Now it's time for tasting! Our panel today consists of...Anime Master ZERO!" Jayson declared.

Some members of the audience applauded.

"....Survivor Club owner, Persona!"

Mostly glares this time.

"...Saiyan Princess, Little Serenity!"

This time a cheer, which Persona rolled his eyes.

"...Series manager, CHROMUS!"

Chromus raised a hand, as the crowd applauded.

"...and our fifth and final taster will be...former champion, Ash Ketchum!"

Ash sauntereed up to the tasting table, much to the chagrin of the female audience members and a very annoyed Kelly.

"Now, let's taste the dishes of Shel and the Destroyers!"

Kelly was outraged. "What? I thought Chi Chi was serving first!"

"Tough beans. I called it first."

As the men began to serve, an angry Kelly jumped down from the pedestal, and tried to interfere with the serving. But a quick move by Shel knocked her harmlessly away before any of the men's dishes could be lost. And since he was captain, Shel served the first dish.

"Tofu and winter melon in a clear stock. This will refresh your palette before the meal begins." Shel introduced.

"Next, we've got a Lo-Hon vegetable stew with tofu puffs." Lei-On added, introducing the second dish.

"Followed by an Old School-style Ma-Po tofu..." Amarah added.

"Then followed by greens with a crab and tofu gravy." Konatsu chimed in.

"...and to finish off, a cool tofu dessert with almond sweetening." Tenkawa concluded.

The judges each took a sample of the dishes, and began to scribble their notes and their scores onto their scorecards. Once the mens' dishes were cleared away, Kelly smiled smugly as the women served their food...

"First, we've got a fried tofu appetizer with a sour dipping sauce." Chi Chi led off.

"...then we've got a tofu and salted fish soup." Lita added.

"Then followed by my specialty, a meatless version of my Chipotle Burritos, with tofu!" Brock declared.

"Then a delightful mini-tofu sukiyaki, right at the table." Kasumi continued.

"...and to finish it off, a sugary sweet almond tofu cheesecake!" Shinobu smiled to close it off.

The judges also tasted the five other dishes, and once their evaluations were complete, the moment of truth was finally at hand. Who's cuisine would truly reign supreme? "It's time to find out who is the winner of this titanic battle!" Kelly shouted. "So, let's start with you, Serenity! How did you vote?"

"I will vote for Shel and the Destroyers. Their dishes might be a bit lame-o and classic, but they are really good! Chi Chi had a bit too much spice, as if they were trying to drown out the flavours." Little Serenity commented, as she placed a blue X in front of her.

"Now, let's move to CHROMUS!"

"As much as I liked Shel and his blokes' dishes, I have to give it to the women. Their loving and sweet personalities reflect on their dishes very well." CHROMUS replied, putting a red O in front of him.

A small chorus of calling "fix!" was heard, as the next judge was revealed. "Now, how about you, AMZ?"

"I think I'll go with Shel and the Destroyers too. While the women's food were good, they were too westernized in their approach. The way Shel and them did it, made it really like the stuff I can get at home...and that's all good."

AMZ replied, putting out a blue X again.

"Now, to Ash!"

Ash paused for a second, before beginning. "Well, as much as I liked the girls and Brock's stuff, I think Shel had a good idea of what tofu's about. Their cooking is a lot like how my mom would make it...with lots of love and caring for taste." And with a blue X, the game was up.

"And finally to Persona." Kelly sighed, knowing the game was up.

"I think I'm going to give the women a vote. It was a close call, but their sweetness reflects well in their dishes. They might have lost, but at least it was a close one." Persona replied, putting the red O in front of him, one vote too few.

"AND WITH THAT SHEL AND THE DESTROYERS HAVE WON THE IRON CHEF BATTLE!" Jayson declared, as blue confetti rained down from celebration balls mounted on the ceiling. Shel, Lei-On, Amarah, Tenkawa and Konatsu mobbed each other, while Shinobu began to cry, while Chi Chi and the others fumed.

"FIXED! THIS COMPETITION WAS FIXED!" Chi Chi declared. "I ORDER THAT THIS MATCH BE NULLIFIED AND RE-DONE!"

"Forget it, Madame Son. Accept defeat like a good loser." Shel replied snidely.

"THIS ISN'T THE END!" Chi Chi shouted, as the women retreated into the hail of blue confetti, as the men and their supporters continued to celebrate, while the women simply simmered in their latest setback...

* * * * 

Enough was enoough! Ami and Mitsukake were fed up with the utter nonsense that stemmed from these petty sex wars. Fortunately, their prayers had been answered, for the sheer number of Naru attacks had gone down, and Keitaro was flying in less regularly, which was a good sign. 

Sadly, the number of Akane attacks were rising... 

The youngest Tendou was fascinated by this new Anything Goes Anti-Hentai Martial Arts. Unfortunately, she was trying it out based on hearsay and without proper instruction, with dire consequences. Mostly for Ranma, any other being with a Y chromosome, and Chromus (specifically, his pocketbook). The payments being made to the "Old Dojo" crew were taking their toll on the season's budget. 

Fortunately for Ami, while she took a short lunch break, she found the authoress having a meal with her dear beau. 

"Miss Otaku! Thank goodness I've found you!" 

The other bluenette looked up and smiled. "Yes?" 

"Miss Otaku, I have to plead with you, can you please, please, demonstrate your Anti-Hentai Martial Arts?" 

She blinked. "I don't know... I mean, the name's a little misleading; it doesn't cause pain to all men, so I don't think the ladies would like it..." 

"It's more popular than you think. Please, you should demonstrate it, and teach everyone, men and women alike. I've heard of what it does, separating who is guilty and who isn't. It would be educational as well as helpful for the male population's health and well-being. It would be a great help to the clinic if you can prevent a lot of injuries." 

"I don't know..." 

"You should do it, dear! You always want to help others, here's your chance," Artful encouraged his girl. "There are young minds willing to learn, and you have a chance to mold them." 

Star smiled; she did like helping people! "Alright. I'll do it. But I need help. For one thing, I need two male volunteers. Two control samples, to use a scientific term. Keitaro is a given for the accidental ecchi. And I need one true hentai. Seiya seems to be a good choice, and I'll wait until he's voted off, unless you have another one in mind." 

"*ahem* I'm willing to get into some hands on work with my girl..." 

"Gomen, sempai, but you know the drawback: it doesn't work on your true love." 

"Drat. Well then, I guess I'll stick close by with band-aids." 

Star turned to the awaiting physician. "Ami, it's a deal! Arrange a day, set up a venue, and I'll do it! The school of Anything Goes Anti-Hentai Martial Arts will open!" 

Immediately, all of the girls in the area gathered round the girl and asked at once: 

"Where do we sign up?!" 

* * * *

DAY 24

Joey had just made his bet on Seiya, that Raye girl was pretty hot, but after his misunderstanding with Tamahome, he decided to play it safe. Besides, he could have sworn that Mai was getting upset with him…

It couldn't be…could it?

He was too busy walking by, when Kaiba walked by with Mokuba. The Moon technology was perfect for observing satellites, and how he could work out his Duel Disk systems.

And he was the last person that Joey wanted to see.

"Oh great, not you Kaiba…listen, I'm not in the best of moods, so no taunting please…" Joey said.

"Oh, I don't need to. I think the tie alone is doing the taunting for me." Kaiba smirked before he left.

Joey looked down, and with embarrassment, realising he was still wearing the Snoopy tie from before.

"I AM NOT A...

All of a sudden, Joey felt something underneath his foot. He looked down and saw a circular disc in blue. It looked like a…

"MINE!" Joey screamed…but as you know, in space, no-one can hear you scream. (Unless you are Keitaro Urashima…or more recently, Takato or Henry)

Fetch was looking along with littlekitty for one of his transformation mines.

"I'm sure I dropped it around he…"

"WOOF!"

"Is that where you left it?" littlekitty said, pointing to an area.

"Why do you ask?" Fetch said.

"Oh no reason." Littlekitty said, observing what was ahead of her, especially as Fetch looked on.  
  
"Bark bark bark!"  
  
Yep. Joey is now a dog.

His worst nightmare come to life. He was glad that Kaiba hadn't seen that…but what if Yugi comes?

Then again…in this form, he could rip Tristan to shreds if he got eliminated tonight…

"Don't worry.", says Fetch "He'll be back to normal in nine days. Til then, we'd better take good care of him."

Fetch walks off with a grin on his muzzle and his tail wagging a mile a minute. Joey followed, and hoped that Tristan would go in 9 days.

Shame he couldn't collect any money now…

* * * *

With team Casey victorious once more, Tom was pretty much in a state of happiness/drunkness as he passed by the corridor. Sure, he should be watching Chromus, but hey, life was too good.

O.K…so a small sour note when that Casey wannabe had returned and was even admitted into the show, but she knew that she wouldn't last compared to Casey. No chance in hell!

If he'd had not been contemplating those thoughts, he should have been interested in a conversation nearby…

"So…he went over there again?" a female voice said. It actually belonged to Michelle Kai'oh, the first female to be eliminated in Anime Survivor 5.

"Yes…he wouldn't tell me the details, just said he was going to visit his 'blue haired cutie-pie operative.' Geez, even he's getting girl mad…" the other girl, Raye Hino said.

"Ah, so she's 'the mole?' " Michelle smiled.

"Not really…just someone who Chromus is owing a favor…something about an invitation to his next series…that and getting away from the idiots she hangs with as well…it seems to help with her sanity." Raye sighed.

"And this is also for vengence for me? Raye, I'm honoured but there is no…!"

Raye scoffed. "Oh please…there's more to this. Don't you know how that man has treated the girls here? Early days. Ami was telling us about a nice man that sent her a love letter…didn't he know that always breaks her out in hives? Plus how old is he, 9, 10 years senior?"

Michelle neglected to mention Darien to Raye.

"Last season…I heard that a girl even younger was flirting with him and he couldn't say no, something about stopping a 'mon war or something…what a pervert!" Raye screamed.

"So why did you save him?" Michelle asked the $64,000 question.

Raye sighed. "Because no-one deserves to die here. I can tell that he's not evil…just misguided. Besides, it gives me a bit of a challenge."

Raye turned. "It's almost time for the vote. He said it was Seiya…so…" Raye and Michelle headed out.

Tom shook his head. "What was that?"

Oh well…if it was important, he'd remember it later. For now…

* * * *

Takuya was a little disappointed. Takato and Henry were well on their way to repairing their reputation. They simply hadn't done anything perverted. Rika and Jeri had let them back into the room, and all seemed to be well in the Tamers camp.

"And that Arp guy also said that our series sunk like an anchor! We can't forget that!" Takuya fumed.

"Don't worry, Takuya... when Zoe and JP get back, I'll have a way to solve both of those problems." Koji sat up against the bed. "I'm sure Takato, Henry, and Arp will be back in the hotseat in no time."

"How do you plan to do that?"

Koji smiled and pulled out a camcorder. It had a yellow-and-red marker on it. "Arp put me in charge of finding it. The bellhops screwed up and misplaced it, and then it was almost stolen by the dark clones. One spirit evolution and a clone-whooping later, this thing's mine."

"So how do we use it?"

"Well, it turns out that this proves that it was all an accident and a big misunderstanding."

"Oh," Takuya was disappointed.

Until Koji smiled, "But when edited properly, it also proves that Takato and Henry are bigger perverts than Seiya and Onizuka combined." 

* * * *

Seiya Uribitake, the first member of the jury.

The Nadesico faithful wasn't much, but with Akito and Ryoko there, at least he had some support.

Although the round of boos from the female population didn't help his credit somewhat.

"Seiya…glad you're back…now I can kill you myself." Ryoko Subara clenched her fists together.

"EEP! SAVE ME TENKAWA!" Seiya screamed.

Akito shook his head. "Never change do you. Oh well…you lasted longer than you do…and we've got a present for you."

"Huh? A present?" Seiya said.

Akito dropped what looked like an image reciever. "That Washu-lady helped us with this. It transmits messages from the future if you are connected." Akito indicated his implant on his right arm.

Seiya nodded and Ryoko played the message. A shot of the bridge was seen, one of Yurika Misamaru, the captain, with Minato, Ruri and Megumi on the front, Jun in the background…

"Seiya, how the heck did you get so much further than I did?!" Yurika screamed.

"Because he's a lucky old coot!" Hikaru Amano added from the background.

"Old coot…acult…what a vamp." Izumi chuckled, but the two then went into a chorus of 'Uri-pie!" which brought a smile to the veteran mechanic.

"What they are trying to say Mr. Uribitake is that we are proud of you for getting so far…" Ruri started, but the captain's background notes about 'unfair' and 'Akito (well, mostly Akito) were getting the navigator towards the 'I' word.

"CAPTAIN!"

She may be a Mihoshi equivilent, but at least the captain knew when to shut up.

"We'll see you soon. Take care!" Megumi said, as the message went off.

Seiya sighed. "I guess I missed being back there more than I thought…"

Ryoko shook her head, but grabbed his arm anyway.

"Hey, what the…"

"Sheesh…just call it a feeling of good will. Come on Seiya, good food doesn't wait for no man or no woman. Tenkawa, hop to it!"

"Yes ma'am…" Akito said. He hadn't been too welcome after the whole Iron Chef incident, so he wasn't ready to go back there. Whilst Kasumi and Shinobu were fine, his old friend Lita wasn't as fond anymore and Chi-chi…well, she'd been on the worst case ever since Goten was eliminated.

Things couldn't get much worse…could it?

* * * *

Zoe and JP were walking back to their room and saw Tommy coming up around the corner. They waved and Tommy approached them. Little did they know that things were about to get worse.

"Let's just hope he's not messed up today," JP whispered.

"Hey, Zoe? We're really good friends, right?" Tommy said.

"Uh... sure!" Zoe smiled. There seemed to be nothing disturbing about that question.

"Great!" Tommy made it disturbing. "Want to go to a love hotel?"

Zoe immediately blushed and reared back. "What kind of video game involves asking girls to go to a love hotel?!" she shouted.

JP bashfully twiddled his thumbs. "Oh... I've played a few like that," he admitted. Unfortunately, JP was never able to score with the catgirl.

* * * *

That's the end of this rather long Side Story session. With the next chap of AS5 still a fair bit away, should be plenty of time for more and more scenes for the next couple of days.

Until next time!


End file.
